Senior IAS officer Dharmendra replaces Naresh Kumar as Delhi Chief Secy., set to take charge today

The Ministry of Home Affairs has appointed senior IAS officer Dharmendra as the new Chief Secretary of Delhi. He will take over on Sunday from 1987-batch IAS officer Naresh Kumar, whose term as the city’s top bureaucrat was extended twice.

The appointment of Mr. Dharmendra comes ahead of the Assembly election scheduled for February next year. Mr. Dharmendra, a 1989-batch IAS officer of the Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre, was Arunachal Pradesh Chief Secretary before being transferred to the Capital.

He has also served as the New Delhi Municipal Council Chairperson. Mr. Dharmendra has also served in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, as Development Commissioner for Dadra and Nagar Haveli/Daman and Diu, and Resident Commissioner of Aizawl.

“With the approval of the competent authority, Dharmendra, IAS (AGMUT 1989), is hereby transferred from Arunachal Pradesh to Delhi and posted as chief secretary, GNCTD, wef 01.09.2024 or with effect from the date of joining, whichever is later,” read the order issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on Saturday.

During his previous stint in the Delhi government, Mr. Dharmendra — a civil engineer by training — held various posts, including secretary in the Revenue, Irrigation and Flood Control, and Industries departments.

The new Chief Secretary takes over at a time of a growing rift between the elected government and the bureaucracy. Mr. Kumar, who took over the office in April 2022, often found himself at the receiving end of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s ire.

Role in excise case

It was on the basis of a report Mr. Kumar submitted to Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena in July 2022, alleging that there were procedural lapses in the formulation of the now-withdrawn excise policy for 2021-22, that probes by the Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate were launched against several senior AAP leaders.

In his report, Mr. Kumar had alleged that kickbacks received by AAP leaders from operators of alcohol businesses for preferential treatment were used to “influence” the 2022 Assembly elections in Punjab and Goa.

The investigations led to three senior AAP leaders — Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh — being sent to jail.

While Mr. Sisodia and Mr. Singh are out on bail, the CM remains in judicial custody in Tihar Jail.

In December last year, Vigilance Minister Atishi had proposed the removal of Mr. Kumar over the acquisition of a land parcel, which, AAP alleged, led to undue benefits to one of the landowners who was said to be linked to the business associate of Mr. Kumar’s son Karan Chauhan. However, Mr. Saxena refused to consider the Vigilance Minister’s report.

Points of contention

AAP has also attacked Mr. Kumar over a range of issues, including the maintenance of the city’s drains, the Delhi Jal Board’s “fund crunch”, and the “delay” in tabling the 2023-24 budget, and, most recently, the “complete collapse of civic infrastructure” during the monsoon.

Mr. Kumar was set to retire in November 2023. However, he was granted an extension for six months, followed by three more months.

With the zonal committee polls and Assembly election set to happen in quick succession, the new Chief Secretary will hit the ground running even as the ongoing war of words between the executive led by Mr. Saxena and the elected government is likely to further intensify.

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