Chief secy, DGP to retire on February 28

PATNA: In what can be said to be a rare coincidence, the state top bureaucrat and top police officer — chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh and DGP P K Thakur — will retire together on February 28 next year.

While babudom is abuzz with speculations over who will succeed the duo to get the coveted posts, there are also talks about the likelihood of Singh taking voluntary retirement weeks before the scheduled superannuation to get a political appointment.

Singh, however, denied it. “I don’t know about VRS or what will happen to me in future,” he told TOI on Saturday.

Asked about his post-retirement plan, he said he believed in today. “Let the time to retire come. I will decide what I will do after that,” he said.

Singh said he knew the social media was buzzing with bunkum regarding his post-retirement assignments. “Some people say I will be made a JD (U) MLC, while others say I will become a BJP legislator,” he said laughingly and added yet others wrote he would be made the education minister.

A close aide of Singh said he might be nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the JD (U) a la N K Singh. A retired bureaucrat, N K Singh later joined the BJP and is currently the chairman of 15th Finance Commission. “Alternatively, he may get an extension,” he said.

DGP Thakur could not be reached for his comments as he was away in Delhi.

Three other senior IAS officials are also scheduled to retire next year. They include Ajay V Nayak of 1984 batch, who is the state's chief electoral officer and is scheduled to retire on April 30.

Development commissioner Shishir Sinha is to retire in July next year. The 1982-batch official also holds the additional charge of principal secretary of the vigilance department.

Shashi Shekhar Sharma of 1985 batch, who is currently the DG of Bihar Institute of Public Administration and Rural Development, will retire on August 31 next year.

While two promoted IAS officials — G K Paramhansh and Gajanan Mishra — are retiring on December 31 this year, at least 14 other promoted IAS officials will retire next year. They include Saran DM Harihar Prasad and Begusarai DM Mohd Naushad Yusuf.

Among IPS officers, DGs P N Rai and Ravindra Kumar are scheduled to retire on january 31 and October 31 next year respectively.