UP govt seeks one-year extension for chief secretary

Lucknow: The UP govt has written to the Centre, requesting for an extension of one year for chief secretary Manoj Kumar Singh , who is due to retire at the end of this month.

At present, Singh, a 1988 batch officer, is the seniormost in UP's bureaucracy, and holds additional charges including industrial and infrastructure development commissioner, chairperson PICUP, CEO UPEIDA, CEO UP State Highways Authority, ACS coordination and Project Director of UP Diversified Agriculture Support Project. "In support of its request, govt has mentioned Singh's involvement in major projects which include the Zero Poverty programme, which the CS is spearheading. In addition, the letter has mentioned that a Global Investors Summit and a Ground Breaking ceremony are scheduled to take place by the end of this year, for which Singh's presence will be crucial," said an officer, indicating that with assembly elections in UP less than two years away, govt would prefer to not have any major rejig in the bureaucracy while it was rolling it major programmes.

Singh was appointed CS on June 30, 2024 after the retirement of DS Mishra, who was appointed CS on the last day before his retirement and continued to serve in the post for the next 2.5 years.

In case the Centre does not approve Singh's extension, there are a few other names floating around who could succeed him. These include 1989 batch officer SP Goyal who is at present additional CS to chief minister, civil aviation and additional resident commissioner, UP, and Devesh Chaturvedi from the same batch, who is currently on deputation as secretary, department of agriculture and farmer welfare, GOI.

Goyal is due for retirement in two years while Chaturvadi will retire next year. Another officer whose name is doing the rounds is 1990 batch officer Deepak Kumar, who is ACS Finance, Commissioner Finance and Chairperson of State Vigilance Commission Administrative Tribunal-I.