Appoints him as State Election Commissioner
Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh government has removed Chief Secretary Anil Khachi from the post and has appointed him as the state election commissioner.
Appointment orders have been issued in this regard.
As no one has been appointed as the new Chief Secretary, however there are speculations are doing the rounds in the corridors of power.
Kachi a 1986 batch IAS officer was appointed the Chief Secretary in December 2019 and he otherwise is to retire in the year 2023.
Earlier, on the fourth day of the Assembly session, there was a lot of uproar in the House regarding the removal of the Chief Secretary from the post which was stiffly opposed by the opposition.
Right after the Question Hour ended, Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri raised the issue that had appeared in the media of the Chief Secretary being replaced.
Expressing his displeasure over questioning the need of replacing Khachi, Agnihotri said that a person from Himachal became the Chief Secretary and he reached at such a high position. Earlier, VC Pharka had been a Chief Secretary, who was also a Himachali.
After Pharka was removed, Vineet Chaudhary was appointed Chief Secretary and then BK Agarwal. Aggarwal also changed, said Agnihotri, charging that now the sixth Chief Secretary was changed.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said, ” When your government-appointed Chief Secretary did you ever ask. Hence, such matters should not be discussed in the House.”
Speaker Vipin Singh Parmar said that this was the prerogative of the government and it would not be accepted.
Speaker said that these things will not be recorded and asked for the next proceedings of the House.
The continuing their opposition staged a walkout raising slogans.
Chief Minister said that the previous Congress government had made the sixth officer in seniority as the Chief Secretary, ignoring others.
Justifying the new role given to Khachi, he stated that the decision had been taken in view of the fact that the post was vacant. The responsibility is given to Khachi was constitutionally significant and he will hold the charge for five years.
He will have the status equal to that of a High Court judge.
He said that the Congress party should refrain from politicising the issue, Officers join after clearing IAS exams and it was not a matter of a Himachali or not as officers coming from other parts of the country are doing excellent services.
It is the prerogative of the state government to decide what work has to be assigned to the officers, he added.
