The names of the HCS officers against the vacancies of the IAS officers from the promotion quota for the year concerned will be sent to the UPSC thrice. (Express File Photo)Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has approved a proposal to elevate 27 Haryana Civil Services (HCS) officers to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). These state civil services officers are from the 2002, 2003 and 2004 HCS batches.“The chief minister has given approval. Now, the matter will be sent to the UPSC [Union Public Service Commission] soon,” a senior officer of the Haryana government told The Indian Express on Wednesday. The officer said that after a proposal from the state government, a meeting of the UPSC was likely to be called to take a call on the officers’ promotions.The names of the HCS officers against the vacancies of the IAS officers from the promotion quota for the year concerned will be sent to the UPSC thrice. The state has three vacancies for the 2020 batch, four for the 2021 batch, eight for the 2022 batch, 10 for the 2023 batch and two for the 2024 batch.For the past few years, the matter of HCS officers’ promotion was pending because of a chargesheet filed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in a Hisar court, alleging irregularities in the recruitment of the 2002 HCS officers’ batch.A few years ago too, sources said, the state government had sent a list of 31 HCS officers to the UPSC to consider them for promotions against 15 vacancies of IAS officers which were to be filled from among the state civil service officers. A few of these 31 were officers whose selection had come under scrutiny after allegations of irregularities in their recruitment in 2002.The then Advocate General of Haryana, Baldev Mahajan, had opined that an officer cannot be denied consideration for promotion merely on the basis of an FIR. Mahajan also said that the UPSC has to check if an officer could be promoted or not in such circumstances but there could be no bar on the consideration of their names. Mahajan had suggested that the government send the names of the 2002-batch HCS officers to the UPSC while mentioning the pendency of the case so that the UPSC may keep it in consideration while taking a call.Then, former minister Karan Singh Dalal in December 2023 had sent a letter to the UPSC chairman opposing the proposal of the promotion of 2002-batch HCS officers. Dalal said the ACB had found the selection of HCS officers of the 2002 batch to be “tainted”. “They were also chargesheeted for several offences including forgery, cheating and corruption. They have been summoned by a Hisar court and are also facing trial,” Dalal had stated.Story continues below this adA former MLA from Palwal, Dalal had earlier challenged the 2002 selection process in the Punjab and Haryana High Court when 86 candidates were selected by the Haryana Public Service Commission during the Indian National Lok Dal government’s tenure. The court had found irregularities in the selection process of 38 candidates and had also ordered the state vigilance bureau (now ACB) to examine the entire case. Dalal had also taken up the issue in the Supreme Court.A halt in the promotion of the 2002-batch HCS officers had caused a delay in the promotion of the 2003 and 2004 batches. However, now the state government has given its nod to the promotion of 2002, 2003 and 2004 batch IAS officers.Sukhbir Siwach's extensive and in-depth coverage of farmer agitation against three farm laws during 2020-21 drew widespread attention. ... Read More© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd