New Delhi: Senior IAS officer K K Sharma will be the next Chief Secretary of Delhi, a choice that is also acceptable to the AAP government.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh today approved the appointment of Sharma, currently serving as Chief Secretary of Delhi, to be the Delhi government's top bureaucrat, a Home Ministry spokesperson said.
The proposal for the appointment of Sharma, a 1983 batch Union Territory cadre IAS officer, to the top bureaucratic post in the city government was as per rules, he said. Delhi government sources said Sharma is acceptable to them. In fact, his name was one of those suggested by the Delhi government to the Centre.
The approval of the Home Minister came after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal rejected a panel of three officers recommended by the Home Ministry. Kejriwal's first choice for Chief Secretary's post, R S Negi, was rejected by the Home Ministry on the ground that he was not senior enough to hold the post and not in the higher pay scale of Rs 80,000.
The Home Ministry had also told the Delhi government that appointment of Negi will be unfair to a dozen UT cadre officers who are senior to him and serving in different posts. Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had met Rajnath Singh on Thursday and requested him to appoint Negi as the Chief Secretary.
Arguing for Negi's appointment, the AAP government had also conveyed to the Home Ministry that it came to power after a historic mandate from the people of Delhi and the Centre should extend all possible cooperation to it to realise the people's expectations.
The Home Ministry is the nodal authority of making all top bureaucratic appointments in the Delhi government as the city is a Union Territory.
Sharma had assumed the charge of Chief Secretary of Goa in September 2014. Before that, he was advisor to the Administrator of Chandigarh.
