Inside The Secretariat: June Retirement Wave, Surat Model, & Green Power

June Retirement Wave Hits Gujarat IAS Cadre

As many as eight promoted IAS officers in Gujarat are set to retire in the month of June. The officers include Tushar Dholakia, P.G. Palsana, K.S. Vasava, C.B. Balat, R.M. Damor, B.M. Prajapati, B.J. Patel, and A.B. Pandor. These officers belong to the batches between 2012 and 2017. 

S.K. Modi will retire in July, K.D. Lakhani in August, V.N. Shah in September, and Keyur C. Sampat in December. State's Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Das is also scheduled to retire in the last month of the year. A total of 23 officers were due for retirement in 2026. Out of these, 10 officers have already retired so far, while the remaining 13 are set to retire during the rest of the year.

GPCB Gets 30-Year Expert as Member Secretary

According to an order issued by the state Forest and Environment Department, Deepali Tank has been appointed as the Member Secretary of the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB). She was serving as a Senior Environmental Engineer in the board. She is an officer with nearly 30 years of technical experience in environmental regulations, air and water pollution control, and waste management. Apart from this, she has also been actively involved in policy development, project management and e-governance initiatives. She is also serving as Director (Environment) and Member Secretary of the Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority. She has led statewide initiatives for pollution control, coastal conservation and administrative reforms by launching digital compliance platforms.

Nagarajan’s Surat Model Gains National Attention

Surat Municipal Commissioner M. Nagarajan has introduced an administrative experiment that could become a model for controlling corruption in governance. He has prepared a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that includes strict disciplinary measures within a fixed timeline against employees involved in negligence of duty, unauthorised absence and corrupt practices. The decision has been taken following repeated complaints regarding indiscipline and dereliction of duty among employees across various zones and the main office of the Surat Municipal Corporation. The new SOP has been divided into four stages, including time-bound explanation notices, memos, show-cause notices and charge sheets. Not only this, provisions have also been made for recovery of financial losses, action even after retirement, and penalties against officers responsible for delays in investigations.

District-Level Injustice Under CM’s Scanner

At the Revenue Department’s Chintan Shibir, the Chief Minister issued a warning as well as advice to district collectors. He said that no posting carries more authority than that of a collector, and solutions to most public grievances are available at the district level itself. He remarked that collector offices now even have larger chambers, and therefore officers should work with a smiling face and resolve people’s issues without forcing applicants to run from pillar to post. “If work is done properly at the district level, people should not have to travel all the way to Gandhinagar,” he said. The Chief Minister further observed that many times injustice at the district level washes away the good work done by the government. He said the very purpose of the Chintan Shibir is that officers themselves should seriously deliberate upon people’s grievances. Expressing concern, he noted that despite solutions being available in collector offices, people still come to Gandhinagar under the SWAGAT programme for resolution of district-level issues, and this requires serious introspection.

Gujarat IAS Officer Lands Key Central Role

Manish Bhardwaj, Secretary of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), has recently been appointed by the Government of India as Adviser in the Inter-State Council Secretariat under the Ministry of Home Affairs in the rank of Additional Secretary. An officer of the 1997 batch of the Gujarat cadre, Bhardwaj has been serving in New Delhi for a long time. Before joining NDMA during his deputation tenure, he had served as Deputy Director General in the UIDAI. Earlier, in 2019, Dr. Vikrant Pandey had been appointed as Director in the Inter State Council Secretariat under the Union Home Ministry. He is currently serving in Gujarat as Additional Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister. Another Gujarat cadre officer has now received the opportunity to serve in this important office that works towards strengthening relations between the Centre and state governments. The posting is considered a prime assignment in the administrative system.

Decision Taken to Simplify Revenue Laws

The state government has started implementing the recommendations of two separate committees constituted last year to suggest reforms in revenue laws. The first committee was formed under the leadership of retired IAS officer CL Meena to study the Gujarat Land Revenue Act and related rules and recommend amendments. The second committee, headed by retired officer JK Astik, was constituted to suggest reforms in revenue laws other than the Land Revenue Act. Revenue Department Additional Chief Secretary Dr. Jyanti Ravi has directed that decades-old revenue laws, rules and circulars should be thoroughly reviewed. Obsolete laws and rules will be repealed, while laws requiring amendments will be consolidated into a single integrated legislation. The objective behind this exercise is to bring greater uniformity and clarity in land revenue-related matters across the state.

Retirement Function Held Behind Locked Doors!

Usually, when an officer retires, colleagues and staff bid farewell with flowers and a formal send-off. However, the case of Higher Education Commissioner and IAS officer BH Talati turned out quite differently. Talati recently retired from service. On his last working day, he was reportedly expecting a farewell function from the office staff. But the situation took an unexpected turn when professors from government engineering colleges staged a protest against him wearing black clothes. The protest created such an atmosphere that the commissioner’s staff had to lock the office premises and conduct the farewell programme under tense circumstances. Discussions in administrative circles suggest that the protesting professors were deeply unhappy over unresolved pending issues and grievances during Talati’s tenure. Many are questioning what kind of injustice or neglect may have led to such an unprecedented protest even on the officer’s retirement day.

Gujarat Sets New Benchmark in Green Power

For the last several years, Gujarat and Rajasthan have been competing closely in renewable energy capacity. Until now, Rajasthan held the top position, but recent figures released by the Energy Department show that Gujarat has overtaken it. According to the latest data, Gujarat’s renewable energy capacity has reached 47,178 MW, while Rajasthan’s capacity stands at 47,020 MW. The difference between the two states is 158 MW. This achievement is considered a major milestone for Energy Department Principal Secretary Ashwini Kumar and Gujarat Energy Development Corporation MD Shalini Agrawal. Notably, Gujarat also ranks first in the country in rooftop solar capacity with 6,881 MW installed capacity. The state has set an ambitious target of achieving 100 GW renewable energy capacity by 2030, out of which nearly 47 GW capacity has already been achieved so far.