Chhatar Singh’s re- employment period extended
CHANDIGARH: The post retirement re- employment of Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s principal aide Chhatar Singh has been extended by three months by the central government.
The retired IAS officer will thus continue in his present position as principal secretary to the chief minister (PSCM) till September 30. The state government had, in April, re-employed Singh for three months after his retirement on March 31. Singh, who remained Hooda’s principal aide for more than three years, was designated the PSCM after his re-employment. The initial three month re- employment period ended on June 30.
Singh was in April appointed temporarily as the PSCM -a cadre post - under Section 9(1) (a) of the Indian Administrative Service (Cadre) Rules, 1954, for three months. For continuing his re-employment beyond three months, the state government needed the prior approval of the central government. The Centre’s approval to allow Singh to continue for another three months has out an end to the debate over the applicability of Indian Administrative Service (Cadre) Rules, 1954, in his case and validity of his appointment.
Doubts were raised over Singh’s re-employment in April on the grounds that that Section 9 (1) (a) of the IAS cadre rules cannot be read in isolation and has to be read in conjunction with Section 9 (2) of the rules. Section 9 (2) stipulated that a cadre post will not be filled by a person who is not a cadre officer except if there is a select list in force and if the select list is not in force and it is proposed to appoint a non-select list officer, the state government shall forthwith make a proposal to that effect to the central government together with the reasons therefore and the appointment will be made only with the prior approval of the Centre.