An official order issued by the Aam Aadmi Party government on Monday stated that Punjab's new chief secretary will be senior IAS officer Anurag Verma. He takes over for V K Janjua, who will retire on June 30.
Verma is the current additional chief secretary for home affairs and Justice. He joined the IAS in 1993. In addition, he is in charge of legal and legislative affairs, industry and commerce, IT, and investment promotion. Verma will assume responsibility on July 1.
"Consequent upon implementation of these orders, Shri Anirudh Tewari, IAS (1990); Shri Anurag Agarwal, IAS (1990); Shri A. Venu Prasad, IAS (1991); Smt. Seema Jain, IAS (1991); Shri Sarvjit Singh, IAS (1992); Smt. Raji P. Shrivastava, IAS (1992) and Shri KAP Sinha, IAS (1992) shall be designated as Special Chief Secretary to the Government of Punjab," reads the official order.
"The charge of the posts falling vacant as a result of this order will be given later on," the order further reads.
Janjua, who graduated from Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh with a B.Tech. in electronics, used to work at SCL Mohali, a company owned by the Indian government that made computer chips for space agencies. According to the Indian Express report, he passed the Civil Services Exam in 1998 and was assigned to the IRS (Income Tax), followed by the IAS in 1989 with an All India rank of 12 and the Punjab Cadre.
Janjua had held positions in rural development, industry, labor, and animal husbandry, among other government agencies. Janjua worked with the National Informatics Centre to develop the PRISM software and implement computerized property registration in Punjab while deputy commissioner of Fatehgarh Sahib district.
In addition, Janjua was accountable for enacting a number of labor law reforms that enhanced Punjab's investment climate and ease of doing business. The number of employees who must receive prior approval before being laid off or retrenched has been increased from 100 to 300. The number of laborers in a plant was expanded from 20 to 40. According to Indian Express, the number of additional hours worked each quarter has also increased.
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