Ten months after his repatriation from Centre, Agarwal gets a job

JAMMU: Ten months after he was repatriated to Jammu and Kashmir by the Centre, second-most senior IAS officer of the J&K cadre Krishan Ballabh Agarwal finally has a job as state government on Tuesday appointed him as Financial Commissioner, Housing and Urban Development Department, a post which so far was taken care of by Hirdesh Kumar, as an additional charge.
Agarwal, a J&K Cadre officer of 1985 batch was currently posted as OSD in Resident Commission, J&K Government, New Delhi.

The last posting Agarwal held in Jammu and Kashmir was of Principal Secretary in Higher Education Department. He went to New Delhi in 2013 and was, for a brief while, at Resident Commission there.

Then, he went on to Central deputation and the last post he held was of Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Agarwal was repatriated to Jammu and Kashmir in March this year but then he immediately proceeded on leave. Soon after his leave came to end, he was posted as OSD in the office of Principal Resident Commissioner, J&K Government, New Delhi.

It may be mentioned here that Rakesh Gupta, the Principal Resident Commissioner in New Delhi, in whose office Agarwal was OSD is far junior to the latter. In the bureaucrat jargon, the post of OSD in the office of Resident Commissioner is largely considered as a furlough.
It may be mentioned here that Agarwal, who has still over a year left before superannuation, is senior to current Chief Secretary Bharat Bhushan Vyas.
Vyas’s extended term as the top bureaucrat in State is ending on 28th of Febrauary, which is a little over two months from now, but sources said that Agarwal is less likely to be a successor to Vyas.

It is widely believed that Braj Raj Sharma, who was replaced as Chief Secretary by Vyas may eventually return to the same position after Vyas’s retirement.

Sharma who is currently posted as Additional Secretary in Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, will be retiring in April 2020, thus making his claim on the top bureaucratic post here even stronger.
Meanwhile, the state government on Tuesday also made effective transfers of three more officers.
Reyaz Ahmad Sofi, KAS, Joint Registrar, Cooperative Societies (Special), Kashmir, was transferred and posted as Additional District Development Commissioner, Anantnag while Rifat Aftab Qureshi, KAS, Joint Director, Hospitality and Protocol, Kashmir, was transferred and posted as Additional Mission Director, State Rural Livelihood Mission, Kashmir, vice Ishfaq Ahmad Wani, who in turn has been repatriated to his parent Organization i.e. J&K Legislative Council.