Delhi CEO Vijay Kumar Dev appointed Chief Secretary

NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vijay Kumar Dev has been appointed as the Chief Secretary (CS) of the national capital, an official order said. The Ministry of Home Affairs had on Thursday issued the order appointing the 1987-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territory) cadre. Dev will succeed Anshu Prakash following his transfer to the department of telecommunications in the Central government.

Prakash, who was allegedly assaulted at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence in February, has been appointed as additional secretary in the telecom department. The outgoing chief secretary had claimed that some Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lawmakers, in the presence of Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia, had thrashed him leading to a standoff between the Delhi chief minister and the bureaucrats.

Dev will hold the post of chief secretary superseding 1986-batch IAS officer Manoj Parida who is currently serving as additional chief secretary (home) and principal secretary in the Public Works Department (PWD). "With the approval of the competent authority, it has been decided to appoint Vijay Kumar Dev, IAS (AGMUT:1987) as Chief Secretary, Government of NCT of Delhi with effect from the date of joining till further orders," the ministry said in its order.

The post of Chief Secretary is the seniormost position in the civil services of the states and union territories of India. Since inception of AAP government in Delhi, bureaucratic crisis prevailed in the last four years as at least six Chief Secretaries have been changed such as DM Spolia, S K Srivastava, MM Kuti, Naresh Negi and K K Sharma.

Dev has served in various capacity such as Transport Commissioner, Delhi Food and Civil Supplies and Divisional Commissioner in the national Capital. Dev has also served as Chandigarh UT adviser and is currently posted as CEO of Delhi, his second stint as the top official in the poll body.