Arvind Kejriwal, Rajnath Singh likely to agree on KK Sharma as Delhi Chief Secretary

NEW DELHI: The Union Home Ministry and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal are likely to agree on the name of IAS officer K.K. Sharma, present Chief Secretary of Goa, as the next Chief Secretary of Delhi. Kejriwal has suggested Sharma’s name after his first choice, Ramesh Negi, has been rejected by the Home Ministry.

"I would request you that if you cannot appoint Negi as the Delhi Chief Secretary, then please make Goa’s Chief Secretary K.K. Sharma as the Delhi’s Chief Secretary. I am hoping you will agree this time with us surely," Kejriwal has written in a letter to Rajnath Singh on Saturday, questioning at the same time whether his government "chosen by people with such a heavy mandate" does not have a right to choose a able Chief Secretary. Singh in a letter to Kejriwal on February 27 expressed his inability to appoint Negi for the job and instead suggested a panel of three senior-most AGMUT cadre officers for the CM to choose from. Kejriwal, in his reply, has said "he is not in agreement" with the Home Ministry’s panel of three officers -- Sanjay Kumar Srivastava, Anand Prakash and Naini Jayaseelan.

"We had informally communicated another option – for Kejriwal to suggest name of any officer who is in the pay band apex scale of Rs 80000. He has suggested the name of KK Sharma – who is in the Rs 80000 pay band scale. The Ministry will positively consider the same on Monday," a senior home ministry official told ET.

Sharma, a 1983-batch IAS officer, joined as the Goa Chief Secretary on January 1, 2015 and had barely completed two months in his present posting. He was last posted in Delhi as the Principal Secretary (PWD) from 2009 to 2011 and he will supersede five officers of his cadre if he is appointed as the Delhi Chief Secretary.