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Indian Civil Services should be neutral not adjuncts of governments in power: Former bureaucrats, CCG

Signals given by the prime minister and other high ups of this regime threaten to redact and diminish the Indian civil services from Sardar Vallabhai Patel’s vision says the Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG) of former bureaucrats

Sabrangindia 25 May 2023

indian Civil services

A systematic attempt is being made to change the character of the civil services, particularly the IAS and the IPS, which, in our constitutional scheme, were uniquely intended to be a protective ring around the Constitution, unaffected by political changes,  having an All India perspective rather than a regional, parochial one and being secure enough to maintain an independent, nonpartisan  outlook, without fear or favour.  It is in this context that former bureaucrats have written an Open Letter to the Indian President, Draupadi Murmu.

“The bedrock of all civil services in any democracy worth the name is their independence, neutrality, non-adherence to any political ideology in the discharge of official duties, the freedom to articulate their views to the political executive and the security of knowing that they would not be subjected to arbitrary actions for adhering to these values.

“These foundational characteristics had been forcefully expressed by Sardar Patel in his address to the Constituent Assembly in October 1947 in the following words:

There is no alternative to this administrative system…The Union will go, you will not have a united India if you do not have a good All India Service which has the independence to speak out its mind, which has the sense of security that you will stand by your work…If you do not follow this course, then do not follow the present Constitution…Remove them and I see nothing but a picture of chaos all over the country.”

“Contrary to the above exhortation, we fear that the government, of which you are the constitutional head, is now attempting to distort this basic framework and historical understanding.  

Further,  measures are being taken that threaten the unique federal design of the IAS and the IPS, which underlies Sardar Patel’s vision of a permanent civil service that would  both bind the country together and enable it to maintain a balance between the interests of the Union and the interests of the States. There are noticeable attempts to pressurise officers to show exclusive loyalty to the Union rather than to the ‘parent’ state cadre to which they are allotted. On occasion, arbitrary departmental actions have been taken against those who refuse to do so. Service Rules are sought to be amended to compel central deputations without the consent of either the officers concerned or their state governments, effectively undermining the authority and control of Chief Ministers over their officers. This has disturbed the federal balance and left civil servants torn between conflicting loyalties, thereby weakening their ability to be impartial.

“In the past governments have permitted lateral recruitment at senior levels and many such officers have distinguished themselves. Lately, however, there has been opacity in the recruitment process at mid-levels and concerns that candidates are being chosen based on their ideological predilections. The consequences of this for the future of an independent civil service requires no comment.   

The CCG has also flagged certain concerning statements by high functionaries.

“The actions and words of some very senior functionaries of the central government increases our concern on the future of the civil service and the consequent danger to democracy in India.

“In this context we would like to mention that the National Security Advisor (NSA), while addressing IPS officers at their passing out function in 2021, had emphasised that they should treat civil society as the “fourth  generation of warfare, that can be subverted, suborned, divided and manipulated to hurt the interests of the nation”.  Such sentiments are antithetical to any democratic dispensation and aim at placing civil society in a position of conflict with the state.

“On the April 21, this year, the Prime Minister addressed a gathering of civil service officers on Civil Services Day. The address was unremarkable and comprised largely of a litany of the achievements of the present government over the past nine years, with a proforma acknowledgement of the contributions of the civil services. What was disturbing was his exhortation to the officers to be firm in dealing with malfeasance of political parties while in power. Though couched neutrally, the intent and objective were unmistakable.”

The bureaucrats have stated that their “concern about the future of the civil services is heightened by the reaction of some civil servants.

“The Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie (LBSNAA) is the foundational training institute for All India Services and Central Services. In a recent op-ed, the Director of the LBSNAA wrote, “The task of defining an Indian ethos for the civil servants began in the 75th year of India’s independence, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address where he spelt out the country’s vision….”. Such unwarranted encomiums to the Prime Minister, by the Director of the premier academy for training future civil servants, are deeply disturbing.” 

The group states further that they” apprehend that moves are afoot to redact Sardar Patel’s vision of an independent and apolitical civil service and replace it with apparatchiks and foot soldiers whose loyalty shall be to the ruling party and not to the Constitution of India. “

Who is the CCG?

The CCG is a group of former civil servants of the All India and Central Services who have worked with the Central and State Governments in the course of our careers. Both as individuals and as a group, we believe in impartiality, neutrality and commitment to the Constitution of India. We do not owe allegiance to any political party.

At a time when politics is leaning dangerously towards a centralised, authoritarian, national security state with a leadership  seemingly amenable to abandoning, without demur, the fundamental principles on which our Constitution is based, it has become critical for citizens to ensure that institutions and systems like the civil services which can check this frightening erosion of constitutional values in the manner envisaged by the great Sardar are protected and strengthened. By virtue of their allegiance to the Constitution and not the government of the day, the All India Services, particularly the IAS and IPS, have a critical role to play. As the Constitutional Head of the Republic, we appeal to you to convey our concerns to the Union Government and caution them that this attempt to change the character of the civil services is fraught with extreme danger and, as Sardar Patel had warned many years ago, will spell the death of constitutional government in India.

Constitutional Conduct Group (82 signatories, as below)

1.       

Anita Agnihotri

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, Department of Social Justice Empowerment, GoI

2.       

S.P. Ambrose

IAS (Retd.)

Former Additional Secretary, Ministry of Shipping & Transport, GoI

3.       

Anand Arni

RAS (Retd.)

Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI

4.       

Mohinderpal Aulakh

IPS (Retd.)

Former Director General of Police (Jails), Govt. of Punjab

5.       

Vappala Balachandran

IPS (Retd.)

Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI

6.       

Chandrashekar Balakrishnan

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, Coal, GoI

7.       

Sushant Baliga

Engineering Services (Retd.)

Former Additional Director General, Central PWD, GoI

8.       

Rana Banerji

RAS (Retd.)

Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI

9.       

T.K. Banerji

IAS (Retd.)

Former Member, Union Public Service Commission

10.   

Sharad Behar

IAS (Retd.)

Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh

11.   

Aurobindo Behera

IAS (Retd.)

Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha

12.   

K.V. Bhagirath

IFS (Retd.)

Former Secretary General, Indian Ocean Rim Association, Mauritius

13.   

Meeran C Borwankar

IPS (Retd.)

Former DGP, Bureau of Police Research and Development, GoI

14.   

Ravi Budhiraja

IAS (Retd.)

Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoI

15.   

Sundar Burra

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra

16.   

R. Chandramohan

IAS (Retd.)

Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Govt. of NCT of Delhi

17.   

Kalyani Chaudhuri

IAS (Retd.)

Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal

18.   

Gurjit Singh Cheema

IAS (Retd.)

Former Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Govt. of Punjab

19.   

F.T.R. Colaso

IPS (Retd.)

Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka & former Director General of Police, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir

20.   

Anna Dani

IAS (Retd.)

Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra

21.   

Surjit K. Das

IAS (Retd.)

Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Uttarakhand

22.   

P.R. Dasgupta

IAS (Retd.)

Former Chairman, Food Corporation of India, GoI

23.   

M.G. Devasahayam

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, Govt. of Haryana

24.   

Sushil Dubey

IFS (Retd.)

Former Ambassador to Sweden

25.   

A.S. Dulat

IPS (Retd.)

Former OSD on Kashmir, Prime Minister’s Office, GoI

26.   

K.P. Fabian

IFS (Retd.)

Former Ambassador to Italy

27.   

Suresh K. Goel

IFS (Retd.)

Former Director General, Indian Council of Cultural Relations, GoI

28.   

H.S. Gujral

IFoS (Retd.)

Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt. of Punjab

29.   

Meena Gupta

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI

30.   

Ravi Vira Gupta

IAS (Retd.)

Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India

31.   

Vinod C. Khanna

IFS (Retd.)

Former Additional Secretary, MEA, GoI

32.   

Ish Kumar

IPS (Retd.)

Former DGP (Vigilance & Enforcement), Govt. of Telangana and former Special Rapporteur, National Human Rights Commission

33.   

Sudhir Kumar

IAS (Retd.)

Former Member, Central Administrative Tribunal

34.   

Subodh Lal

IPoS (Resigned)

Former Deputy Director General, Ministry of Communications, GoI

35.   

Harsh Mander

IAS (Retd.)

Govt. of Madhya Pradesh

36.   

Amitabh Mathur

IPS (Retd.)

Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI

37.   

L.L. Mehrotra

IFS (Retd.)

Former Special Envoy to the Prime Minister and former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, GoI

38.   

Aditi Mehta

IAS (Retd.)

Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan

39.   

Sonalini Mirchandani

IFS (Resigned)

GoI

40.   

Noor Mohammad

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, National Disaster Management Authority, Govt. of India

41.   

Deb Mukharji

IFS (Retd.)

Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal

42.   

Shiv Shankar Mukherjee

IFS (Retd.)

Former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom

43.   

Nagalsamy

IA&AS (Retd.)

Former Principal Accountant General, Tamil Nadu & Kerala

44.   

Sobha Nambisan

IAS (Retd.)

Former Principal Secretary (Planning), Govt. of Karnataka

45.   

Ramesh Narayanaswami

IAS (Retd.)

Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of NCT of Delhi

46.   

Surendra Nath

IAS (Retd.)

Former Member, Finance Commission, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh

47.   

P. Joy Oommen

IAS (Retd.)

Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh

48.   

Amitabha Pande

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI

49.   

Maxwell Pereira

IPS (Retd.)

Former Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi

50.   

Alok Perti

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, Ministry of Coal, GoI

51.   

R. Poornalingam

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI

52.   

Rajesh Prasad

IFS (Retd.)

Former Ambassador to the Netherlands

53.   

R.M. Premkumar

IAS (Retd.)

Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra

54.   

T.R. Raghunandan

IAS (Retd.)

Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, GoI

55.   

N.K. Raghupathy

IAS (Retd.)

Former Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, GoI

 

56.   

V.P. Raja

IAS (Retd.)

Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission

57.   

P.V. Ramesh

IAS (Retd.)

Former Addl. Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh

58.   

Satwant Reddy

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, GoI

59.   

Vijaya Latha Reddy

IFS (Retd.)

Former Deputy National Security Adviser, GoI

60.   

Julio Ribeiro

IPS (Retd.)

Former Adviser to Governor of Punjab & former Ambassador to Romania

61.   

Aruna Roy

IAS (Resigned)

 

62.   

A.K. Samanta

IPS (Retd.)

Former Director General of Police (Intelligence), Govt. of West Bengal

63.   

N.C. Saxena

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoI

64.   

A. Selvaraj

IRS (Retd.)

Former Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Chennai, GoI

65.   

Ardhendu Sen

IAS (Retd.)

Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal

66.   

Abhijit Sengupta

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI

67.   

Aftab Seth

IFS (Retd.)

Former Ambassador to Japan

68.   

Ashok Kumar Sharma

IFoS (Retd.)

Former MD, State Forest Development Corporation, Govt. of Gujarat

69.   

Ashok Kumar Sharma

IFS (Retd.)

Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia

70.   

Navrekha Sharma

IFS (Retd.)

Former Ambassador to Indonesia

71.   

Raju Sharma

IAS (Retd.)

Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh

72.   

Avay Shukla

IAS (Retd.)

Former Additional Chief Secretary (Forests & Technical Education), Govt. of Himachal Pradesh

73.   

Sujatha Singh

IFS (Retd.)

Former Foreign Secretary, GoI

74.   

Tirlochan Singh

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, National Commission for Minorities, GoI

75.   

A.K. Srivastava

IAS (Retd.)

Former Administrative Member, Madhya Pradesh Administrative Tribunal

76.   

Parveen Talha

IRS (Retd.)

Former Member, Union Public Service Commission

77.   

Anup Thakur

IAS (Retd.)

Former Member, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission

78.   

P.S.S. Thomas

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission

79.   

Geetha Thoopal

IRAS (Retd.)

Former General Manager, Metro Railway, Kolkata

80.   

Jawed Usmani

IAS (Retd.)

Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh & former Chief Information Commissioner, Uttar Pradesh

81.   

Ramani Venkatesan

IAS (Retd.)

Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of Maharashtra

82.   

Rudi Warjri

IFS (Retd.)

Former Ambassador to Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica

 

Indian Civil Services should be neutral not adjuncts of governments in power: Former bureaucrats, CCG

Signals given by the prime minister and other high ups of this regime threaten to redact and diminish the Indian civil services from Sardar Vallabhai Patel’s vision says the Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG) of former bureaucrats

indian Civil services

A systematic attempt is being made to change the character of the civil services, particularly the IAS and the IPS, which, in our constitutional scheme, were uniquely intended to be a protective ring around the Constitution, unaffected by political changes,  having an All India perspective rather than a regional, parochial one and being secure enough to maintain an independent, nonpartisan  outlook, without fear or favour.  It is in this context that former bureaucrats have written an Open Letter to the Indian President, Draupadi Murmu.

“The bedrock of all civil services in any democracy worth the name is their independence, neutrality, non-adherence to any political ideology in the discharge of official duties, the freedom to articulate their views to the political executive and the security of knowing that they would not be subjected to arbitrary actions for adhering to these values.

“These foundational characteristics had been forcefully expressed by Sardar Patel in his address to the Constituent Assembly in October 1947 in the following words:

There is no alternative to this administrative system…The Union will go, you will not have a united India if you do not have a good All India Service which has the independence to speak out its mind, which has the sense of security that you will stand by your work…If you do not follow this course, then do not follow the present Constitution…Remove them and I see nothing but a picture of chaos all over the country.”

“Contrary to the above exhortation, we fear that the government, of which you are the constitutional head, is now attempting to distort this basic framework and historical understanding.  

Further,  measures are being taken that threaten the unique federal design of the IAS and the IPS, which underlies Sardar Patel’s vision of a permanent civil service that would  both bind the country together and enable it to maintain a balance between the interests of the Union and the interests of the States. There are noticeable attempts to pressurise officers to show exclusive loyalty to the Union rather than to the ‘parent’ state cadre to which they are allotted. On occasion, arbitrary departmental actions have been taken against those who refuse to do so. Service Rules are sought to be amended to compel central deputations without the consent of either the officers concerned or their state governments, effectively undermining the authority and control of Chief Ministers over their officers. This has disturbed the federal balance and left civil servants torn between conflicting loyalties, thereby weakening their ability to be impartial.

“In the past governments have permitted lateral recruitment at senior levels and many such officers have distinguished themselves. Lately, however, there has been opacity in the recruitment process at mid-levels and concerns that candidates are being chosen based on their ideological predilections. The consequences of this for the future of an independent civil service requires no comment.   

The CCG has also flagged certain concerning statements by high functionaries.

“The actions and words of some very senior functionaries of the central government increases our concern on the future of the civil service and the consequent danger to democracy in India.

“In this context we would like to mention that the National Security Advisor (NSA), while addressing IPS officers at their passing out function in 2021, had emphasised that they should treat civil society as the “fourth  generation of warfare, that can be subverted, suborned, divided and manipulated to hurt the interests of the nation”.  Such sentiments are antithetical to any democratic dispensation and aim at placing civil society in a position of conflict with the state.

“On the April 21, this year, the Prime Minister addressed a gathering of civil service officers on Civil Services Day. The address was unremarkable and comprised largely of a litany of the achievements of the present government over the past nine years, with a proforma acknowledgement of the contributions of the civil services. What was disturbing was his exhortation to the officers to be firm in dealing with malfeasance of political parties while in power. Though couched neutrally, the intent and objective were unmistakable.”

The bureaucrats have stated that their “concern about the future of the civil services is heightened by the reaction of some civil servants.

“The Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie (LBSNAA) is the foundational training institute for All India Services and Central Services. In a recent op-ed, the Director of the LBSNAA wrote, “The task of defining an Indian ethos for the civil servants began in the 75th year of India’s independence, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address where he spelt out the country’s vision….”. Such unwarranted encomiums to the Prime Minister, by the Director of the premier academy for training future civil servants, are deeply disturbing.” 

The group states further that they” apprehend that moves are afoot to redact Sardar Patel’s vision of an independent and apolitical civil service and replace it with apparatchiks and foot soldiers whose loyalty shall be to the ruling party and not to the Constitution of India. “

Who is the CCG?

The CCG is a group of former civil servants of the All India and Central Services who have worked with the Central and State Governments in the course of our careers. Both as individuals and as a group, we believe in impartiality, neutrality and commitment to the Constitution of India. We do not owe allegiance to any political party.

At a time when politics is leaning dangerously towards a centralised, authoritarian, national security state with a leadership  seemingly amenable to abandoning, without demur, the fundamental principles on which our Constitution is based, it has become critical for citizens to ensure that institutions and systems like the civil services which can check this frightening erosion of constitutional values in the manner envisaged by the great Sardar are protected and strengthened. By virtue of their allegiance to the Constitution and not the government of the day, the All India Services, particularly the IAS and IPS, have a critical role to play. As the Constitutional Head of the Republic, we appeal to you to convey our concerns to the Union Government and caution them that this attempt to change the character of the civil services is fraught with extreme danger and, as Sardar Patel had warned many years ago, will spell the death of constitutional government in India.

Constitutional Conduct Group (82 signatories, as below)

1.       

Anita Agnihotri

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, Department of Social Justice Empowerment, GoI

2.       

S.P. Ambrose

IAS (Retd.)

Former Additional Secretary, Ministry of Shipping & Transport, GoI

3.       

Anand Arni

RAS (Retd.)

Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI

4.       

Mohinderpal Aulakh

IPS (Retd.)

Former Director General of Police (Jails), Govt. of Punjab

5.       

Vappala Balachandran

IPS (Retd.)

Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI

6.       

Chandrashekar Balakrishnan

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, Coal, GoI

7.       

Sushant Baliga

Engineering Services (Retd.)

Former Additional Director General, Central PWD, GoI

8.       

Rana Banerji

RAS (Retd.)

Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI

9.       

T.K. Banerji

IAS (Retd.)

Former Member, Union Public Service Commission

10.   

Sharad Behar

IAS (Retd.)

Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh

11.   

Aurobindo Behera

IAS (Retd.)

Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha

12.   

K.V. Bhagirath

IFS (Retd.)

Former Secretary General, Indian Ocean Rim Association, Mauritius

13.   

Meeran C Borwankar

IPS (Retd.)

Former DGP, Bureau of Police Research and Development, GoI

14.   

Ravi Budhiraja

IAS (Retd.)

Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoI

15.   

Sundar Burra

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra

16.   

R. Chandramohan

IAS (Retd.)

Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Govt. of NCT of Delhi

17.   

Kalyani Chaudhuri

IAS (Retd.)

Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal

18.   

Gurjit Singh Cheema

IAS (Retd.)

Former Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Govt. of Punjab

19.   

F.T.R. Colaso

IPS (Retd.)

Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka & former Director General of Police, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir

20.   

Anna Dani

IAS (Retd.)

Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra

21.   

Surjit K. Das

IAS (Retd.)

Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Uttarakhand

22.   

P.R. Dasgupta

IAS (Retd.)

Former Chairman, Food Corporation of India, GoI

23.   

M.G. Devasahayam

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, Govt. of Haryana

24.   

Sushil Dubey

IFS (Retd.)

Former Ambassador to Sweden

25.   

A.S. Dulat

IPS (Retd.)

Former OSD on Kashmir, Prime Minister’s Office, GoI

26.   

K.P. Fabian

IFS (Retd.)

Former Ambassador to Italy

27.   

Suresh K. Goel

IFS (Retd.)

Former Director General, Indian Council of Cultural Relations, GoI

28.   

H.S. Gujral

IFoS (Retd.)

Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt. of Punjab

29.   

Meena Gupta

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI

30.   

Ravi Vira Gupta

IAS (Retd.)

Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India

31.   

Vinod C. Khanna

IFS (Retd.)

Former Additional Secretary, MEA, GoI

32.   

Ish Kumar

IPS (Retd.)

Former DGP (Vigilance & Enforcement), Govt. of Telangana and former Special Rapporteur, National Human Rights Commission

33.   

Sudhir Kumar

IAS (Retd.)

Former Member, Central Administrative Tribunal

34.   

Subodh Lal

IPoS (Resigned)

Former Deputy Director General, Ministry of Communications, GoI

35.   

Harsh Mander

IAS (Retd.)

Govt. of Madhya Pradesh

36.   

Amitabh Mathur

IPS (Retd.)

Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI

37.   

L.L. Mehrotra

IFS (Retd.)

Former Special Envoy to the Prime Minister and former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, GoI

38.   

Aditi Mehta

IAS (Retd.)

Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan

39.   

Sonalini Mirchandani

IFS (Resigned)

GoI

40.   

Noor Mohammad

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, National Disaster Management Authority, Govt. of India

41.   

Deb Mukharji

IFS (Retd.)

Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal

42.   

Shiv Shankar Mukherjee

IFS (Retd.)

Former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom

43.   

Nagalsamy

IA&AS (Retd.)

Former Principal Accountant General, Tamil Nadu & Kerala

44.   

Sobha Nambisan

IAS (Retd.)

Former Principal Secretary (Planning), Govt. of Karnataka

45.   

Ramesh Narayanaswami

IAS (Retd.)

Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of NCT of Delhi

46.   

Surendra Nath

IAS (Retd.)

Former Member, Finance Commission, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh

47.   

P. Joy Oommen

IAS (Retd.)

Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh

48.   

Amitabha Pande

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI

49.   

Maxwell Pereira

IPS (Retd.)

Former Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi

50.   

Alok Perti

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, Ministry of Coal, GoI

51.   

R. Poornalingam

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI

52.   

Rajesh Prasad

IFS (Retd.)

Former Ambassador to the Netherlands

53.   

R.M. Premkumar

IAS (Retd.)

Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra

54.   

T.R. Raghunandan

IAS (Retd.)

Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, GoI

55.   

N.K. Raghupathy

IAS (Retd.)

Former Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, GoI

 

56.   

V.P. Raja

IAS (Retd.)

Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission

57.   

P.V. Ramesh

IAS (Retd.)

Former Addl. Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh

58.   

Satwant Reddy

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, GoI

59.   

Vijaya Latha Reddy

IFS (Retd.)

Former Deputy National Security Adviser, GoI

60.   

Julio Ribeiro

IPS (Retd.)

Former Adviser to Governor of Punjab & former Ambassador to Romania

61.   

Aruna Roy

IAS (Resigned)

 

62.   

A.K. Samanta

IPS (Retd.)

Former Director General of Police (Intelligence), Govt. of West Bengal

63.   

N.C. Saxena

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoI

64.   

A. Selvaraj

IRS (Retd.)

Former Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Chennai, GoI

65.   

Ardhendu Sen

IAS (Retd.)

Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal

66.   

Abhijit Sengupta

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI

67.   

Aftab Seth

IFS (Retd.)

Former Ambassador to Japan

68.   

Ashok Kumar Sharma

IFoS (Retd.)

Former MD, State Forest Development Corporation, Govt. of Gujarat

69.   

Ashok Kumar Sharma

IFS (Retd.)

Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia

70.   

Navrekha Sharma

IFS (Retd.)

Former Ambassador to Indonesia

71.   

Raju Sharma

IAS (Retd.)

Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh

72.   

Avay Shukla

IAS (Retd.)

Former Additional Chief Secretary (Forests & Technical Education), Govt. of Himachal Pradesh

73.   

Sujatha Singh

IFS (Retd.)

Former Foreign Secretary, GoI

74.   

Tirlochan Singh

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary, National Commission for Minorities, GoI

75.   

A.K. Srivastava

IAS (Retd.)

Former Administrative Member, Madhya Pradesh Administrative Tribunal

76.   

Parveen Talha

IRS (Retd.)

Former Member, Union Public Service Commission

77.   

Anup Thakur

IAS (Retd.)

Former Member, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission

78.   

P.S.S. Thomas

IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission

79.   

Geetha Thoopal

IRAS (Retd.)

Former General Manager, Metro Railway, Kolkata

80.   

Jawed Usmani

IAS (Retd.)

Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh & former Chief Information Commissioner, Uttar Pradesh

81.   

Ramani Venkatesan

IAS (Retd.)

Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of Maharashtra

82.   

Rudi Warjri

IFS (Retd.)

Former Ambassador to Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica

 

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