The office of the Chief secretary to the Chief Minister of Punjab has been vacant since its previous occupant A. Venu Prasad retired in July 2023. Neither the vacancy was filled nor any additional charges were assigned to current IAS officers. Source say that Secretary of Ex-servicemen welfare, Ministry of Defence, Vijoy Kumar Singh, IAS will be returning to Punjab from the Centre on the State government’s request. It is speculated that he may be the candidate to occupy the office of Chief Principal Secretary to the Punjab Chief Minister.
Vijoy Kumar Singh, IAS assumed charge as Secretary, Ex-Servicemen Welfare, Ministry of Defence on September 19, 2022. Singh is a 1990-batch IAS officer of Punjab cadre, who has an experience of more than 32 years in administration. He recently served as Special Secretary in Ministry of Textiles. Prior to this appointment there, he had served as Joint Secretary in Department of Personnel & Training. He had extensive interactions with serving as well as retired Armed Forces personnel during his career in Punjab. He holds a reputation for being a strict and upright officer and is speculated to be suitable for the post.
A. Venu Prasad retired in July of 2023 leaving the post vacant since. No additional charges were assigned regarding the post to other IAS officers as well. Several IAS officers were lobbying for the post but the government did not appoint anyone. Now that a senior IAS officer is returning to Punjab, he is likely to be the most viable candidate for the office.