The Hindu : Ashok Jaitly to be J&K Chief Secy. till April 30

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 05, 2002

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Ashok Jaitly to be J&K Chief Secy. till April 30

By Shujaat Bukhari

JAMMU, MARCH 4. The Farooq Abdullah Government has finally given up on the issue of extension of the services of the Chief Secretary, Ashok Jaitly. It has modified the earlier order, restricting the extension till April 30. He will, however, be the Principal Adviser to the Chief Minister for one year after May 1.

In an order issued today, the Government, which had extended the services of Mr. Jaitly as Chief Secretary for one year, after he reached superannuation on January 31, said he will hold the post till April 30. The order has been issued after the Centre accorded approval for an extension of his services for three months instead of one year following a compromise with Dr. Abdullah. The extension had snowballed into a controversy between the Centre and State with the former firm on not acceding to the State Government's request. Though the Chief Minister had been told that the Centre would accord sanction to Mr. Jaitly's services for one year, it was opposed by a section in bureaucracy on the plea that it would set a precedent. Today's order has put an end to the controversy.

A separate release issued by the Chief Minister's Office said Mr. Jaitly would be the Principal Adviser from May 1 for one year. ``He will advise the Chief Minister on all the matters, including the security scenario.''

A confidant of Dr. Abdullah, Mr. Jaitly is a 1964-batch IAS officer of the J&K cadre and held the post of Chief Secretary for over five years. The release said the 1966-batch officer, I.S. Malhi, — presently Financial Commissioner (Industries and Commerce)— will be the new Chief Secretary. However, he will have the shortest tenure of six months till October 31, 2002.

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