Uncertainty over HPSC Secretary's post after Mukesh Ahuja's tenure ends
Babushahi Bureau
Chandigarh, July 3, 2026: The post of Secretary of the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) remains uncertain after the three-month re-employment of retired IAS officer Mukesh Ahuja ended on June 30, with the Haryana Government yet to appoint a serving IAS officer to the key administrative position.
The delay has triggered debate in administrative and legal circles over whether the state government will appoint a regular IAS officer to the cadre post or seek approval from the Central Government to continue Ahuja beyond the initial three-month period.
According to Hemant Kumar, Advocate at the Punjab and Haryana High Court and an expert in administrative law, the post of HPSC Secretary is a notified IAS cadre post. He said that under the applicable service rules, a state government can retain a retired officer on re-employment to a cadre post for up to three months on its own authority. Any extension beyond that period requires prior approval from the Centre.
Kumar pointed out that the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Government of India, issued a Gazette Notification on June 11, 2026, revising the Haryana IAS Cadre Schedule. The notification specifically lists the post of HPSC Secretary as an IAS cadre post.
He said the notification reinforces the requirement to strictly follow the IAS Cadre Rules while making appointments to the position.
Despite the expiry of Ahuja’s re-employment on June 30, the Haryana Government has neither appointed a serving IAS officer as HPSC Secretary nor clarified whether Ahuja has been allowed to continue in the role, leaving the status of the post uncertain.
Kumar also questioned why the order granting Ahuja’s three-month re-employment has never been placed in the public domain.
He noted that transfer, posting and service orders concerning IAS and Haryana Civil Service (HCS) officers are generally uploaded on the Chief Secretary’s official website within a day or two of issuance. However, no such order relating to Ahuja’s re-employment has been made publicly available.
Kumar said he had filed an online Right to Information (RTI) application before the Cabinet Secretariat on April 6, 2026, seeking details of Ahuja’s re-employment.
The application was transferred to the DoPT, which replied that Rule 9 of the IAS (Cadre) Rules, 1954, deals only with the temporary appointment of non-cadre officers to cadre posts and does not govern the re-employment of retired IAS officers. The department advised him to seek the information from the Haryana Government.
In another RTI response, the Central Government stated that it did not possess a copy of the order under which Ahuja had been re-employed, Kumar said.
Relieved From One Post, Continued in Another
Mukesh Ahuja, originally a 1997-batch Haryana Civil Service (HCS) officer, was inducted into the IAS in 2019 and allotted the 2009 IAS batch. He retired on March 31, 2026, and was granted re-employment from April 1 to June 30.
While the Haryana Government replaced him as Chief Administrator of the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board on May 26 by appointing Dharmender Singh, a 2012-batch IAS officer, Ahuja continued as Secretary of the HPSC.
Kumar has urged the Governor, the Chief Minister, the Chief Secretary and the Haryana Government’s Personnel Department to make the re-employment order public so that the legal basis of Ahuja’s appointment can be examined.
Citing the proactive disclosure provisions of the RTI Act, he argued that administrative orders involving constitutional institutions should be placed in the public domain without requiring citizens to obtain them through RTI applications.
Amid the uncertainty, speculation has emerged that the Haryana Government may appoint Ahuja as a Member of the Haryana Public Service Commission.
Kumar said there is no legal bar to such an appointment. However, he noted that if appointed, Ahuja would serve only until March 2028, when he reaches the constitutional retirement age of 62 years prescribed for HPSC members.