With less than a month left for Union home secretary G.K. Pillai to retire, no successor has been appointed as yet. Under a normal practice, the government could have appointed Mr Pillai ‘s successor to join as understudy or officer on special duty (OSD) a month before the present incumbent retires. Mr Pillai, a Kerala-cadre IAS officer of the 1972 batch, is to retire on June 30 after a two-year tenure.
The appointment of the home secretary is cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. But the pre-occupation of the government in dealing with anti-corruption movements and a likely Cabinet reshuffle to be effected by the Prime Minister around June 17 seems to have delayed the appointment, an official said.
“Normally, a decision is arrived at a month before the seat of home secretary falls vacant. However, consultations are still on at the highest levels,” the official said. Mr Pillai had taken charge as the OSD on June 5, 2009, almost a month before he took over from the then home secretary Madhukar Gupta. It may be recalled that Gupta, who was scheduled to superannuate on March 31, had been given a three-month extension due to the Lok Sabha elections.
Government sources said that a list of around 20 eligible officers is being looked at by home minister P. Chidambaram. Speculation is rife that R.K. Singh, secretary, defence production is the front-runner for the post but no decision has been taken. Mr Singh is a 1975-batch Bihar cadre officer.
The name of Sindhushree Khullar, a UT cadre IAS officer of 1975-batch is also doing the rounds. Apart from these, officers of the 1974-batch are also under consideration.