In a first in more than a decade, the government has given an extension of tenure to the union home secretary. An order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training on Thursday said that the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved an extension of tenure for incumbent home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, a 1984 batch IAS officer of Assam Mizoram cadre, for one year. Bhalla was due to retire on August 22.
The last time a union home secretary was given an extension was in 2009 when then home secretary Madhukar Gupta was granted an extension of tenure for three months to ensure continuity and smooth management of elections since he was in charge of deployment of central paramilitary forces across the country.
The 2009 general elections brought the Congress-led UPA government under Manmohan Singh into its second term. The UPA, however, lost to the BJP in 2014 elections.
Bhalla’s extension is being seen as an attempt by the government to maintain continuity in its efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. The Centre’s efforts are being coordinated by the home secretary who is the chairman of the national executive committee which functions under the Disaster Management Act.
The DM Act, implemented by its nodal ministry (union home ministry), continues to be in force in the country since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though some of the powers of the NEC were vested in the union health secretary last year, the penal provisions and overarching implementation of the DM Act is being supervised by Bhalla.
Before Bhalla, all previous home secretaries had retired after their stipulated two-year fixed term.
