By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 30 Jan: Chief Secretary Dr SS Sandhu is to retire tomorrow (31 January, 2024) after having been in the post for around two and half years. He had actually attained the age of superannuation six months ago, but his tenure was extended by 6 months by the Centre at the request of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.
Speculation in the Secretariat as well as among sources close to the Chief Minister indicate that Additional Chief Secretary Radha Raturi is likely to assume charge tomorrow afternoon as the new Chief Secretary. In the event of her taking charge, she will be the first woman Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand.
Sources claim that Chief Minister Dhami has given the go ahead in favour of her appointment as Chief Secretary. Sources also claim that, in case of her taking charge as new Chief Secretary, she will most likely get an extension of service by at least six months. She is otherwise set to retire on 31 March, 2024. This is because of two reasons, the major one being the coming general elections, and during the elections, change of guard at the Secretariat is not usual. The second reason is that she is considered a trusted officer of Chief Minister Dhami, who may like to give her some time to serve as Chief Secretary and not just two months. Of course, if the term of Dr SS Sandhu is extended by another six months, then Radha Raturi will retire in March without getting any extension.
Radha Raturi is married to former IPS officer Anil Raturi, who retired some years ago as the Director General of Police, Uttarakhand. In case of her assuming charge as new Chief Secretary, the Raturi couple will also become the only couple in Uttarakhand, so far, to have held the top administrative posts in the state. Before this, SK Das and his wife Vibha Puri were another high-profile couple. Although, Das retired as Chief Secretary, Vibha Puri Das retired as Secretary, Higher Education, to Government of India.
It may be recalled that, both, Dr SS Sandhu and Radha Raturi are 1988 batch IAS officers. Though Radha Raturi was senior to Sandhu in her batch, she changed her cadre following which she became junior to Sandhu in the gradation list.
Additional Chief Secretary Anand Vardhan is a 1991 batch IAS officer who will retire in 2027. So, he has ample time available to make it to the top post. As the next senior officers RK Sudhanshu and L Fanai are 1997 batch IAS officers, Vardhan does not face any major challenge except some pending inquiries in his way to becoming the next Chief Secretary after Raturi.
