transfers.fyiतबादला
Vineet Chaudhary (Chawdhary)

Register · No. 5

Vineet Chaudhary (Chawdhary)

IAS, Himachal Pradesh cadre, 1982 batch, Retired 2018

56transfers, as of Apr 2015 in 36 years of service; reports range from 52 to 56. 3 on the ribbon below, 3 of them documented.

  • Documented
  • One report
  • Years with no move on record

Vineet Chawdhary, a 1982-batch Himachal Pradesh IAS officer, had the highest transfer count in TOI's 2013 Executive Record analysis (52 in 31 years; 56 by 2015 per NIE). No reporting was found tying individual transfers to a specific clash. The one documented dispute is his 2016–17 supersession for Chief Secretary under the Congress government, for which he won interim relief at the CAT, before the BJP government made him Chief Secretary in 2018. Himachal's alternation between Congress and BJP governments is a plausible but unproven backdrop to the transfers.

Counted from his Executive Record sheet. TOI (Nov 2013 ER-sheet analysis): 52 in 31 years, then the highest in India. NIE (Apr 2015): 56 in 32 years, three in 2014 alone, shortest stay 2 months (2013).

This count comes from analyses of service records, not from a reported dispute. Few of these moves have a published reason, and a high count is not evidence that the officer was punished.

The moves, and what came of them

Oldest first. Each fold is marked by how well the record holds it.

  1. Documented

    TOI's analysis of the Executive Record sheets of 2,139 serving IAS officers found him the most transferred: 52 transfers in 31 years. NIE (2015) put it at 56 in 32 years, including three in 2014 and a shortest stay of two months.

    The Times of India, Nov 2013 · The New Indian Express, Apr 2015

  2. 4 years with no move on record here.

  3. Documented

    Senior-most IAS officer, Himachal Pradesh

    The Virbhadra Singh government made V. C. Pharka (1983 batch) Chief Secretary over four seniors, including Chawdhary and Deepak Sanan (1982). They went to the CAT alleging no screening committee was in place when Pharka was promoted to ACS. On 1 March (2017, inferred from the Tribune archive; year not printed) the CAT directed the state to give Chawdhary a post equivalent to Chief Secretary with all facilities, failing which Pharka would be restrained from exercising the powers of Chief Secretary.

    Up against
    Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Indian National Congress Government: Congress (Virbhadra Singh, CM).
    Reported reason
    Indian Express described Pharka as 'seen to be close to' CM Virbhadra Singh.
    The officer said
    Through his CAT application: 'the rules were flouted in the appointment' (allegation).
    The other side said
    The government later claimed that screening had been done (Tribune).
    Outcome
    CAT interim relief: post equivalent to Chief Secretary.

    The Tribune, Mar 2017 · The Indian Express, Dec 2017

  4. Documented

    Chief Secretary, Himachal Pradesh

    The new BJP government under Jai Ram Thakur appointed him Chief Secretary; he served from 1 January to 30 September 2018.

    Government of Himachal Pradesh, 2018 · The News Himachal, Jan 2018

Sources for the count

Photo: Government of Himachal Pradesh (former Chief Secretaries list), unknown/official government website — needs review