Chandigarh: The Chandigarh Administration’s appointment of a new IAS officer from the Punjab cadre remains delayed as the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) has yet to select a candidate. Over a month ago, the UT administration forwarded a panel of four names to the MHA without indicating any internal preference or choice, leaving the final decision entirely up to the central ministry.The selection pool has technically narrowed to three contenders: Harpreet Sudan (2013 batch), Amit Talwar (2013 batch), and Jaspreet Singh (2014 batch). The fourth nominee, Preeti Yadav (2014 batch), seems to be ruled out after the Prime Minister-led Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) selected her as the general manager for the Food Corporation of India’s (FCI) regional office in Haryana in April 2026.Because inter-cadre deputation requests must pass through multiple administrative channels before receiving final clearance from the ACC, no official decision has been communicated to Chandigarh Administration yet. All three remaining candidates possess extensive administrative experience in Punjab, having previously served in key positions such as deputy commissioners. Among them, Amit Talwar holds unique prior experience within the UT administration, having served there as a Punjab Civil Services (PCS) officer before being promoted to the IAS cadre.Status of Haryana cadre officersThe UT administration is also facing delays in securing state officers from Haryana. A previously submitted panel of Haryana Civil Services (HCS) officers was rejected and sent back by the UT administration a few months ago due to technical reasons. While Chandigarh requested a fresh panel, the Haryana govt has yet to provide one. Sources indicate that Haryana is currently struggling to compile names because it is not receiving a strong response from HCS officers when seeking their mandatory consent for Chandigarh deputation.
