Centre names Anshu Prakash as Delhi’s new Chief Secretary

AAP govt. says Centre didn’t seek its opinion on appointment

NEW DELHI, 23/03/2015: Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare J.P. Nadda with the Director of REACH, Dr. Nalini Krishnan and awardees of REACH Lilly MDR-TB Partnership Media Awards 2015, (from 2nd left), Sajil C., Raju, Priyanka Vohra and Gunjan Sharma in New Delhi on March 23, 2015. Are also seen (from left), Associate Professor (Medicine) Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, Dehradun, Dr. Anurag Bhargava, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Anshu Prakash and vice president Area director South Asia, Middle- East Turky, Africa Lilly, Nabil Daoud. Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

The Centre appointed senior IAS officer Anshu Prakash as the new Chief Secretary in the Delhi government on Friday, according to an order of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Mr. Prakash, a 1986-batch IAS officer of the Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre, will be replacing M. M. Kutty, whose transfer to the Centre was approved on Tuesday.

Mr. Prakash has been posted in the Union Ministry of Rural Development since 2016. As on Friday evening, Mr. Kutty was yet to be relieved, with sources saying the switch will likely happen on Monday.

According to sources in the Aam Aadmi Party government, the Centre did not seek the elected government’s opinion while appointing Mr. Prakash.

A senior official said that the last time the Centre asked for opinions was before Mr. Kutty’s predecessor K. K. Sharma was appointed Chief Secretary in 2015.

Power tussle

After that, the Centre and the AAP government have been at loggerheads, with the former issuing a notification saying that all matters related to services would be under the control of the Lieutenant-Governor.

The Delhi government challenged that notification and the matter is currently being heard in the Supreme Court.