Uttarakhand on Saturday became the first state in the country to grant an extension of service to a district magistrate on the day of his retirement.
In an unprecedented decision, the Pushkar Singh Dhami government granted a three-month service extension to Udhamsingh Nagar district magistrate Uday Raj Singh, who was set to retire on August 31 after turning 60 on August 13. Senior officials in the state secretariat informed that no other state government in the country has ever extended the service of a district magistrate-rank official.
“Have you heard of a DM-rank officer, who is equivalent to upper secretary in the state secretariat, being given an extension by any state government in the country? What was the pressing need for this? Although it’s difficult to challenge it on legal grounds, this decision was unethical and unwanted. Does this mean Uttarakhand is facing a shortage of IAS officers to deploy as DM, or was it done for other reasons?” said a senior state secretariat official who worked in the personnel department for many years.
According to this senior officer, service extensions for officials are granted on the basis of solid and genuine reasons in the interest of the state.
Uday Raj Singh, a PCS officer who was awarded the 2022 IAS batch and posted as DM of Udhamsingh Nagar in June 2023, was given a three-month extension on the last day of August, the day he was set to retire.
According to a senior officer in the Chief Minister’s Office, Uday Raj Singh, born in 1964 and considered close to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, received the extension as a result of this proximity.