UP chief secretary makes history with 3rd service extension

LUCKNOW: Having got his third extension in service, Durga Shankar Mishra, IAS, will now set a record as the second longest serving chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh.

He has already made history for being the first IAS officer in the country to have already got three extensions as chief secretary (CS) after retirement.

Following the Centre’s approval, the UP government on Sunday issued orders giving six months’ extension to Mishra as the state’s chief secretary -- the post he has been holding since December 31, 2021. He was given one year’s extension on December 31, 2022.

Additional chief secretary, appointment and personnel, Devesh Chaturvedi said, “We have issued orders extending the present chief secretary’s tenure for six months, that is till June 30, 2024.”

Mishra will have a tenure spanning two-and-a-half-years when he quits after six months if he does not get yet another extension, the possibility of which nobody can deny at this juncture.

But even the 30 months’ tenure that he is already endowed with, will be the longest tenure that any other IAS officer, probably, barring Atul Kumar Gupta, can boast of in the recent decades.

“I do not recall any other IAS officer having such a long tenure as the chief secretary in the recent past. His predecessor R.K. Tiwari also had a long stint as the chief secretary but his span was shorter than that of D.S. Mishra,” said a senior IAS officer.

Tiwari, a 1985 batch IAS officer (now retired), was appointed the chief secretary on August 30, 2019, and was succeeded by D.S. Mishra midway on December 30, 2021, completing the tenure of 28 months as the CS.

Earlier, Anoop Chandra Pandey was in the office of the CS only for 14 months, Rajiv Kumar for 12 months, both under the Yogi Adityanath government.

Rahul Bhatnagar, Alok Ranjan and Javed Usmani all appointed CS under the Akhilesh Yadav government had nine months, 13 months and 26 months tenures, respectively.

The tenure of Deepak Singhal, also appointed CS under the same regime on July 16, 2016, was as short as two months.

Atul Kumar Gupta alone, appointed CS under the Mayawati government, had a tenure a little longer than that of D.S. Mihra who is still in office.

A 1974 batch IAS officer, Gupta served as the chief secretary of UP between May 29, 2008 and March 31, 2011, the total tenure being of around 34 months.

His successor Anoop Kumar Mishra remained in office only for around 12 months. Other IAS officers, including V.K. Mittal, V.K. Diwan, B.N. Tiwari, P.K. Mishra, Neera Yadav, Akhand Pratap Singh appointed CS between 2000 and 2008 all had a shorter stint.

“D.S. Mishra made history first when he became the first IAS officer to be appointed CS after retirement for one year since extensions to IAS officers after retirement are normally given for six months only. Now, Mishra is all set to set a new record having the longest tenure as the CS in the recent years even as his each extension dashes many IAS officers’ hopes of becoming the CS,” said another IAS officer.