Kejriwal's special secretary transferred to Puducherry

New Delhi: Prashant Kumar Panda, special secretary to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, has been transferred to Puducherry following an order of the Union Home Ministry. The services department of Delhi government yesterday issued an order relieving the 2007-batch IAS officer with effect from March 19 after getting an approval from Lt Governor Anil Baijal.

Last month, the Home Ministry had issued an order transferring nine IAS officers of Delhi government, including Panda. The relieving order of the special secretary to the Delhi chief minister came a day after V K Jain, Advisor to Kejriwal, resigned citing personal reasons. Jain had been questioned by Delhi Police in connection with the alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash.

“The Lt Governor is pleased to relieve (nine) IAS officers (including Panda) from Government of NCT with effect from March 19, 2018 to enable them to join their new assignments in pursuance of Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs order..dated 12.02.2018,” an official order of the service department stated.

There are around 70 IAS and 450 Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service (DANICS) officers working with the Delhi government. Since the AAP government was formed, the Delhi government and bureaucracy have been at loggerheads on a range of issues. In December 2015, DANICS officers went on mass leave for one day when two special home secretaries were suspended by Delhi Home Minister Satyender Jain.