A day after appointment of Punjab cadre’s 1990-batch IAS officer VK Singh as the Special Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, the Punjab Government on Sunday conferred the apex scale of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) to five seasoned officers of the 1994 batch — designating them as Additional Chief Secretaries.

The appointed officers — Vikas Pratap, Alok Shekhar (proforma promotion), Dhirendra Kumar Tiwari, JM Balamurugan, and Tejveer Singh — will continue their responsibilities at their current places of posting.

Alok Shekhar, presently on central deputation, is set to benefit from the new rank upon his return to the state cadre.

The orders, issued by Chief Secretary Anurag Verma, specify that Dhirendra Kumar Tiwari's promotion is effective from January 28, 2024, while the others will assume their new roles from January 1, 2024.

Notably, only a day before, IAS officer Vijoy Kumar Singh has been appointed as Special Chief Secretary to Punjab CM replacing Venu Prasad who retired as the Additional Secretary to CM. The position was vacant since July after Prasad’s retirement.

VK Singh was recently repatriated to Punjab from his central deputation, where he was serving in the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare.

HS Bhullar appointed DIG Patiala range, to head SIT in Majithia case

Senior IPS officer Harcharan Singh Bhullar was appointed Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Patiala range, after retirement of MS Chhina, after completing more than 30 years of service. Chhina superannuated on December 31, 2023.

Bhullar has also been appointed head of the Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the drug case against SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia. Bhullar will take charge of his new assignment on January 1, 2024.