Major Bureaucratic Shifts in Bihar Administration
Our sources from Reader Wall declared that the Bihar Government, on January 26, effected large-scale transfers involving 22 IAS, 79 IPS, and 45 BAS officers, which included five District Magistrates (DMs) and 17 SPs.
High Profile Transfers
NSD-certified details from the general administration department notify us of several key changes. Existing Patna DM, Mr. Chandrasekhar Singh, a 2010-batch officer, was assigned as the Special Secretary in the Chief Minister’s secretariat. Mr. Singh recently attracted public attention with his disagreements with the State Education Department on the closing down of schools owing to cold weather conditions. In his place, Mr. Shirsat Kapil Ashok of the 2011-batch IAS cadre, the current IG (Prisons), was appointed.
Replacing Gopalganj DM Naval Kishor Choudhary (2013-batch IAS officer) will be the new Bhagalpur DM. In related news, the present Bhagalpur DM Subrat Kumar Sen (a 2013-batch IAS officer) was appointed to serve as Muzaffarpur DM.
Rounds of Assignments
The principal secretary to the finance portfolio, Arvind Kumar Choudhary (1995-batch IAS), was granted additional responsibilities to serve as Principal Secretary to the Rural Development Department. Similarly, Senthil K Kumar (1996-batch IAS), Principal Secretary at the home department, is now assigned as the Principal Secretary of the Planning Department, and Safeena AN (1997 batch IAS), Principal Secretary, Minorities Welfare department, was appointed as a Member, Revenue Board.
In addition to these IAS shifts, 79 officers from the Indian Police Service (IPS), including 17 SPs stationed across various districts, were also transferred on January 26 as reported by the home department’s formal notices.
Key Transfers amongst IPS officers
Officers like Sushil Mansingh Khopde (1995-batch IPS), earlier serving as the Additional Director General (Operations) at the Special Task Force (STF), was made the ADG (Prohibition). Amrit Raj (1998-batch IPS), who held the posting as ADG (Prohibition), was repositioned as ADG (Operations).
Several changes were also noted among SPs: Deepak Ranjan (2012-batch IPS), formerly posted as SP Jehanabad, was transferred as commandant (Bihar Special Armed Police, Bodh Gaya); SP Naugachia, Sushant Kumar Saroj was appointed SP Bagaha.
The reshuffling continued with SP Araria, Ashok Kumar Singh being appointed Commandant (Bihar Special Armed Police, Sasaram), while SP Siwan, Shailesh Kumar Sinha took charge as Commandant (Bihar Special Armed Police, Patna), and SP Saharasha, Upendra Nath Verma became the new Purnea SP. Amitesh Kumar, who was SP Khagaria, was assigned the position of Siwan SP.
Administrative Service Officers and Further Changes
Recent transfers also affected 45 officers of Bihar Administrative Service (BAS), who received new postings. An official from the GAD explained that these changes involving 29 senior IAS officers on the 23rd of January form a standard routine in their workflow.
