Dharmendra Appointed as New Chief Secretary of Delhi, Succeeding Naresh Kumar

1989 batch IAS officer Dharmendra has been appointed as the new Chief Secretary of Delhi. He will take charge from September 1. Earlier, Dharmendra was the Chief Secretary of Arunachal Pradesh. He has been given this responsibility in place of Naresh Kumar. The extension of service of 1987 batch IAS officer Naresh Kumar is ending on 31 August. Naresh Kumar's tenure was extended twice by the Central Government. Now he will be relieved of this responsibility and Dharmendra is being given this post.

The Home Ministry said in its order, "With the approval of the competent authority, Dharmendra, IAS (AGMUT: 1989) is transferred from Arunachal Pradesh to Delhi and is posted as Chief Secretary of GNCTD from 01.09.2024 or from the date of assuming charge, whichever is later." Director Anees Muralidharan has made this appointment.

As the Chief Secretary of Delhi, Naresh Kumar has had conflicts with the Aam Aadmi Party government. In November last year, the Aam Aadmi Party had made serious allegations against Naresh Kumar. Delhi Vigilance Minister Atishi had submitted a 670-page investigation report to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, alleging "prima facie complicity" of Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar in a land acquisition case. It was also claimed that this would have given undue benefits of Rs 897 crore to the stakeholders. To this, Kumar had asked, "On what basis such allegations have been made, especially when the Chief Secretary took charge only last year i.e. in 2022. A copy of the report has not been shared. In such a situation, on what basis can one react. " According to the report, the minister had recommended the removal of Chief Secretary Kumar and Divisional Commissioner Ashwani Kumar from their posts to pave the way for a fair investigation.

The complainant had alleged that the son of the Chief Secretary of Delhi worked in a realty firm and was the son-in-law of Subhash Chand Kathuria, a director of that company. Kathuria was one of the owners of the land acquired in South-West Bamnoli village and was paid inflated compensation for the land acquired for the road project. The report submitted by the vigilance minister said, "The undue advantage gained is much higher than the earlier vigilance report. Based on the illegal and inflated price determined by the then District Magistrate of the South-West region, Hemant Kumar, the undue advantage gained by Kathuria for 19.081 acres of land in Bamnoli village would have been Rs 897.1 crore. This is much higher than the estimate of Rs 353.79 crore shown in the vigilance report."