Bihar removes additional chief secretary (home) at Election Commission's order

PATNA: Acting at the behest of the Election Commission, the state government on Monday removed 1991-batch

IAS

officer S Siddhartha from the post of the additional chief secretary, home department, and notified him as the principal secretary to the

chief minister

in the CM secretariat.
According to a notification issued by the general administration department on Monday, the 2008-batch IAS officer and secretary (home)

Pranav Kumar

will be the head and in-charge of home department, till further orders.

As per the same notification, Siddhartha was earlier holding the additional charges of the principal secretary to the CM as well as the additional chief secretary (ACS) of cabinet secretariat department.
As per new arrangement, Siddhartha’s main post will be the principal secretary to the CM and he will hold the additional charge of the ACS, cabinet secretariat department.

Similarly, secretary (home) Pranav will continue to hold the additional charge of the inspector general (prisons and correctional services).
Sources in the state government said, Siddhartha was removed from the post of ACS (home) mainly because he had been simultaneously holding three key posts including the post of the principal secretary to the CM.
Earlier in the day, the commission ordered the removal of home secretaries of Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
The step is a part of the commission's efforts to maintain a level playing field and ensure the integrity of the electoral process, sources in the government said.