Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR: With the recent repatriation of senior IAS officers Shantmanu and M. Raju from the Central deputation, yet another reshuffle is understood to be on cards in the top and middle rungs of bureaucracy in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Three senior IAS officers—who figure at Numbers 2, 3 and 4 of AGMUT cadre (J&K segment) seniority list and are junior to only Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo, IAS-1989, are retiring from service in the year 2025. With the elimination of these three IAS officers, Financial Commissioner Revenue and Additional Chief Secretary Shaleen Kabra, who is from the 1992 batch and scheduled to retire on 31 July 2028, will reach Number 2 of the J&K seniority list.
Chief Secretary Dulloo (IAS-1989) is due to retire on 30 October 2026.
The 1989-batch IAS officer Umang Narula, who figures at serial number 2 of the J&K seniority list, is due to reach superannuation on 30 June 2025. He is currently posted as Secretary in the Union Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs. After holding several administrative and senior bureaucratic positions, including Principal Secretary to J&K Governor and Chief Secretary in the UT of Ladakh, Narula went on a Central deputation.
The 1990-batch IAS officer Raj Kumar Goyal is also currently on a Central deputation. He is retiring on 31 August 2025. He is currently posted as Secretary in the Department of Justice of the Union Ministry of Law and Justice.
Of the three, only Shantmanu has been prematurely repatriated from the Central deputation on the request of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on 29 November and subsequently posted back in the J&K segment of AGMUT on 12 December 2024. According to well-placed authoritative sources, he is being considered for a plum posting in J&K and his orders of appointment are likely to be issued in a few days. Bureaucratic sources in New Delhi said that at the fag end of his service and after serving as a full-fledged Secretary in the Union government, Shantmanu was a strong contender for the post of Chief Secretary in J&K but there was immediately no clarity about the possibility of a change at the level of Chief Secretary.
After Mr Dulloo’s retirement in October 2026, none other than Shalen Kabra will remain at Number 1 of the J&K IAS seniority list till July 2028.
Like Kabra, Bipul Pathak is also an IAS officer of the 1992 batch. He is due to retire in February 2029. On a Central deputation, he is currently posted in Delhi. He has served as Principal Secretary to Governor in J&K after holding several key portfolios. In seniority, Pathak is followed by the 1993 IAS officer Dheeraj Gupta who is currently posted as Additional Chief Secretary with the J&K Chief Minister.
The 2005-batch IAS officer M. Raju, who was sent on a Central deputation and posted at several places in the last three years after serving briefly as administrative Secretary of Jal Shakti and Estates Departments in J&K UT, has also been repatriated to J&K lately. He is also awaiting his order of appointment.
