Alleging that the Himachal Pradesh government "superseded" her for the post of the Chief Secretary, the state's senior-most IAS officer has now opened a front against the BJP government led by CM Jai Ram Thakur.
Nisha Singh, who alleged that her junior R D Dhiman's appointment as Chief Secretary two months ago was done without "assigning any reason," has also written to Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, seeking his intervention in the matter.
Thakur had on July 14 appointed Dhiman, a 1988-batch officer, as Chief Secretary, removing Ram Subagh Singh who had been holding the post since August 2021. Dhiman had superseded three IAS officers, including Nisha Singh, a 1987-batch officer.
Between July and September, Singh and the government had a correspondence wherein Singh sought clarification on pooling the training wings and to partner them with different universities and skill training institutes, The Indian Express reported.
The government responded to her letter on September 5 with a charter highlighting role and function of a principal advisor, the report said. The letter said that functions will include overseeing training of different departments to create synergy, and examining structures for capacity building, among others.
Singh, however, argued that she had submitted a representation to the government for a definition of role and functions for the given capacity, and the two-month delay in response was a “mockery of the representation”.
The officer said that the “advisors to Chief Minister have totally misled him and shown extremely vile attitude, smallness and lack of administrative strength”.
“Such small mindedness and vileness in the heart of the administration from Chief Secretary downwards is inappropriate for the positive governance,” she said in the letter.
“Moreover, I want to object…the experience and understanding of a junior officer who has been appointed as Chief Secretary is far less than that of the undersigned. Can he advise to the CM on (her) official work? On my representation, he cannot be involved as he is junior. My supersession had been unwarranted and in total ignorance of the work I have done with sincerity,” the letter read.
“The present administrative dispensation has not been geared up positively towards lady officers and women in general. As president of IAS Association, I have had many lady officers, both IAS and HPAS, come to me for redressal of injustice to them. I tried my best to resolve them. If there is no empathetic attitude towards lady officers where would other women go?,” she said in the letter, according to the report.
The government has maintained that the decision to appoint Chief Secretary has been taken by the CM in his capacity. “The order itself mentions that it has been issued after approval of CM,” a senior official told the publication.