Chhattisgarh-cadre IAS officer B.V.R. Subrahmanyam was on Wednesday appointed as the Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir in place of B.B. Vyas, who along with super cop and anti-Naxal expert K. Vijay Kumar were named advisers to Governor N.N. Vohra, according to an official communique.
The names of advisers were cleared by the Union Home Ministry after the state was put under the Governor’s rule on Wednesday, following withdrawal of support by the BJP to the PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti’s three-year old-coalition government on Tuesday. The state Assembly has been put under suspended animation.
The 60-year-old Mr. Vyas, who is considered as a trusted lieutenant of the Governor, was last month given a one-year extension in service, beyond May 31, 2018, as the chief secretary of the state.
The Personnel Ministry has also amended the service rules to provide extension to Mr. Vyas beyond 60 years of age of superannuation. Till the new rule came into force, the state chief secretary retired on attaining the age of 60 years.
Mr. Vyas, who was due to superannuate in November last year, was given two extensions of three months each till May-end, to remain the chief secretary.
Another adviser appointed was K. Vijay Kumar, a 1975-batch IPS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre. He had earlier served in the Kashmir Valley as Inspector General of BSF 1998-2001 when the border guarding force was actively involved in the counter-militancy operations.
Sixty-five-year-old Mr. Vijay Kumar had shot to fame when he headed the Special Task Force (STF) for a long time and strategised operations that culminated in the elimination of the dreaded sandalwood smuggler Veerappan in October 2004.
He was appointed as Director General of the world’s largest paramilitary force – CRPF – after naxals killed 75 personnel in Dantewada in 2010.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last night approved that the services of Mr. Subrahmanyam, a 1987-batch IAS officer of the Chhattisgarh cadre, are placed at the disposal of the Jammu and Kashmir government, an order issued by Union Personnel Ministry has said.
Mr. Subrahmanyam is at present the additional chief secretary (Home) in Chhattisgarh.
Mr. Subrahmanyam, considered an expert in internal security matters, has served as private secretary to former prime minister Manmohan Singh during 2004-2008.
He worked with the World Bank during June 2008 and September 2011 before joining again the Manmohan Singh-led PMO in March 2012.
Mr. Subrahmanyam was in the PMO after Narendra Modi became the prime minister in May 2014. He stayed in the PMO till March 2015 and then moved to his cadre state Chhattisgarh.
