Anshu Prakash: Turfed into battlefield of rules and egos

A 1986-batch IAS officer, he has been appointed as the chief secretary in the Delhi government

Anshu Prakash, new chief secretary in the Delhi government, will, hopefully contain (it can never end) the bickering between the elected city government,  Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and the central government. 

A 1986-batch IAS officer of the Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre, he was in the Union rural development ministry as additional secretary and financial adviser when the decision was taken to post him as CS. A prized position but not one marked by tranquillity and peace, especially under the current political dispensation.

Prakash’s predecessor, M M Kutty, was sent to the Union finance ministry as an additional secretary late last month. A 1985-batch IAS officer, he was made CS in Delhi only in November last year. However, the relationship was rocky. Kutty did not attend a function organised by the city government and the chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, took umbrage, asking Kutty to explain in writing. Only an instance of how real or imaginary slights have marked the relationship between the activist Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and the bureaucracy. Primarily due to the city's complex administrative structure,  in which the lieutenant governor (LG) enjoys primacy. In 2015, officers went on mass leave to protest the decision of the AAP government to suspend two DANICS (Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service) cadre officials.

Nor has Prakash’s tenure begun on an auspicious note. Earlier this week, Manish Sisodia, the deputy CM, had publicly expressed the hope that they would be consulted before a new CS would be appointed by the Centre; no name had been sent to them, he’d stated. The Union ministry of home affairs called a meeting with the LG and Kutty to discuss the matter and announced Prakash as the new CS only 24 hours later.

In May 2015, Najeeb Jung, the then LG, had appointed senior bureaucrat Shakuntala Gamlin as officiating CS after the incumbent went on leave. Gamlin's appointment was strongly opposed by the AAP government.

Prakash might not have the same problems as his predecessors, as his record is of working amicably and efficiently with demanding bosses. He served Sheila Dikshit’s government in different capacities; also Sushma Swaraj when she was Union information & broadcasting minister (he was her PS). Despite working with governments of different hues, there isn’t a hint of controversy around him.

It would be a pity if Prakash’s expertise in the health sector is not utilised by the AAP government, which has tried several successful experiments in making health more accessible. Prakash was joint secretary in the Union health ministry and handled various programmes -- on mental health, major non-communicable diseases, emergency medical relief and disaster management, and public health. The final draft of the new mental health Bill was approved for consideration by Parliament during his tenure. He’s also been principal secretary, health, for the governments of Delhi, Arunachal Pradesh and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Educated at Modern School and St Stephen’s College in this city, where he read economics, Prakash is trained to cool waters, not inflame these. He is married to known Kuchipudi dancer Swapna Sundari.