Team News Riveting
Chandigarh, February 18
The 1990-batch IAS officer, Anurag Rastogi is likely to be the next Chief Secretary of Haryana.
He will succeed Vivek Joshi, the 1989-batch IAS officer, who was appointed as Election Commissioner on Monday. Joshi took over as Haryana chief secretary in November 2024,
Presently serving as Financial Commissioner, Revenue, and Additional Chief Secretary (Finance), Rastogi has served as Chief Secretary for three days after TVSN Prasad retired on October 31 last year. Though Joshi was appointed as the Chief Secretary, the government handed over the charge to Rastogi till the former, then on central deputation, joined on November 4, 2024.
Despite a seniority dispute among the officers of the 1990-batch, the government preferred Rastogi and posted him as FCR, a position usually occupied by the senior most officer after the Chief Secretary. The Haryana government clearly indicated its preference without addressing the dispute or giving its decision on the representation by the officers of the batch.
The seniority dispute among the 1990-batch IAS officers came to the fore after three officers Ankur Gupta, Anurag Rastogi and Raja Sekhar Vundru challenged the present gradation list. They claimed that Sudhir Rajpal, the senior most as per this list, and Sumita Misra, placed above them, should in fact be lower in the pecking order since they were “outsiders” and had been transferred from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, respectively.
Though the issue remains unresolved, Gupta has retired since then while Rajpal and Misra have been posted as ACS, Health, and ACS, Home.
Sources said Rastogi would be the obvious choice of the state government as the new Chief Secretary. His elevation would necessitate a reshuffle since the charge of crucial departments of revenue and finance would have to be handed over.
