Context

• The extension of the tenure of the Delhi Chief Secretary, Naresh Kumar by six months by the center has been a contentious issue with various perspectives and implications.
• The Supreme Court recently upheld the Centre’s proposal to give a six-month extension of service to Delhi Chief Secretary.

Who appoints Chief secretaries of Delhi?

• All chief secretaries of Delhi have invariably been appointed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, which is the cadre-controlling authority of IAS and IPS officers of the Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre (to which now the J&K cadre has been added).

Was this the first occasion of extension?

• The grant of extensions to top officers is not new and began years ago with a large number of cabinet secretaries, then home and Defence secretaries which was done by changing the All-India service rules. 
• Various state governments have also given extensions over the years to Chief Secretaries. 
  • For instance, the incumbent Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh was granted an extension in service just prior to his retirement as Urban Development Secretary and immediately dispatched to his current post and then given another extension.

Why does the government keep their favorite bureaucrats?

• Every government feels comfortable with known people who are accustomed to understanding its priorities.
• Favoring bureaucrats who align with the government’s agenda helps maintain the existing power structure and control over policy implementation.

Is there any provision for granting extension?

• Recruitment, training, discipline, age of retirement and retirement benefits of the members of the All-India Services emanate from the All India Services Act. The Act does not acknowledge extensions as normal but the rules provide for exceptions. 
• Rule 16 of the All India Services (Death Cum Retirement) Benefits Rules, 1958 required the State government to make a recommendation for the six-month extension with the prior approval of the Union government.

SC ruling on this matter

• The SC held that duties of the Delhi Chief Secretary straddle subjects both within and outside the legislative and executive competence of the Delhi government. The subjects outside the GNCTD’s purview included police, land, and public order.
• The court agreed with the Centre that the Delhi Chief Secretary, unlike his counterparts in States, was “entrusted with significant functional responsibilities, which includes the overall administrative control and supervision over subjects which stand excluded from the legislative domain and executive powers of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD)”.
• Thus the restrictions which operate in the grant of extension under Rule 16 of the 1958 Rules about Chief Secretaries of State government would not strictly apply in relation to GNCTD.

Way forward

• Pushing up the retirement age to at least 62 years if not 64 like OECD countries is needed.
• The government should implement the provisions of FR 56(j) and compulsorily retire those whose performance is unsatisfactory by using transparent benchmarks.