Not upset with government over any matter: LC Goyal

NEW DELHI: LC Goyal who has been replaced as the Home Secretary by the government has said he has chosen to call it a day and he is not upset with the government over any matter.

"I have just decided to call it a day. There are no specific reasons for the same. I am not upset over any matter," Goyal told ET. When asked whether he was unhappy over him being marginalised in the Naga Talks issue or a factor like his stance of denying security clearance to the Sun TV and FM channels of the network, Goyal said "such things have to be taken in the stride". He also denied any health issue being a factor. "I am hale and hearty. Health is not a reason for me to seek voluntary retirement. It is a personal decision," Goyal told ET. Home Ministry bureaucrats have been left zapped over the development with some citing certain issues that Goyal had within the Ministry as a factor being his decision. "It could be a case of a discord on issued within the Ministry," a senior MHA official said. Sources said government was also not happy with Goyal for not acting with speed against Teesta Setalvad and her NGOs with Goyal insisting "to go by the book," say Home Ministry sources.

An order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said Goyal has himself sought voluntary retirement from service. The government has replaced him with outgoing Secretary of Economic Affairs, Rajiv Mehrishi as the new Home Secretary.

This will be the third Home secretary in the present government after Goyal's predecessor Anil Goswami had also sought voluntary retirement last February after his name had emerged in a CBI probe for granting alleged favour to an accused in the Saradha chit find scam, Mathang Singh.

Goyal, a Kerala cadre IAS officer of the 1979 batch, was appointed Home Secretary on February 5 with a two-year-fixed term. However, within seven months on the chair, he put in a "request for voluntarily retiring from service" -- which has been accepted with "immediate effect by waiving the notice period," a DoPT order issued on August 31 said. Goyal had been at the helm of the controversial decision by the Home Ministry to deny security clearance to the Sun Network for its FM and TV channels - a decision that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting wanted the Home Ministry to review but Goyal had refused to change his stance, officials say.

The new Home Secretary will be 1978 batch IAS officer Rajiv Mehrishi who was to retire today as Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, has been now appointed as Home Secretary and he can have a two-year-long term in the chair. Mehrishi was earlier tipped to be Cabinet Secretary but had lost out to PK Sinha. The decision to replace Goyal with Mehrishi has been taken by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) headed by the Prime Minister and Home Minister.