As a result, the Chief Secretary in J&K has always occupied a central position in implementing policy and managing the civil service through these changes.
J&K’s longest-serving Chief Secretary, Peerzada Ghulam Ahmad, remained in the hot seat for close to a decade from June 14, 1954, to March 7, 1964, while Ashok Jaitly served as a Chief Secretary from October 9, 1996, to April 30, 2002.
Vijay Bakaya, a local Kashmiri Pandit, served as Chief Secretary from August 1, 2005, to May 31, 2006, during Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s government.
C Phunsog, a Ladakhi officer, served as a Chief Secretary from May 31, 2006, to October 31, 2007, during Azad’s tenure as CM.
B R Kundal, who served as a Chief Secretary from November 1, 2007, to June 2, 2008.
Srinagar, Oct 25: Sajjan Singh Yadav, who is set to become the 34th Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir on November 1, 2026, will inherit a long legacy of Chief Secretaries, both locals and non-locals, with some of them, like Peerzada Ghulam Ahmad, Sheikh Ghulam Rasool, and Ashok Jaitly, having become part of the local folklore.
Over the years, J&K’s administrative leadership has evolved despite periods of political instability, central rule, and the region’s transition from a state to a Union Territory in August 2019.
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The Chief Secretary, the senior-most civil servant in Jammu and Kashmir, is responsible for coordinating the administration, overseeing government departments, and advising the elected government or the administration during periods of central rule.
As a result, the Chief Secretary in J&K has always occupied a central position in implementing policy and managing the civil service through these changes.
J&K’s longest-serving Chief Secretary, Peerzada Ghulam Ahmad, remained in the hot seat for close to a decade from June 14, 1954, to March 7, 1964, while Ashok Jaitly served as a Chief Secretary from October 9, 1996, to April 30, 2002.
Recently, as a Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam oversaw major transitions, including the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019 and the merger of its former state cadre into the Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre in 2021.
The Government of India on Saturday, October 24, appointed the 1995-batch AGMUT-cadre officer Sajjan Singh Yadav to succeed Atal Dulloo as the Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir, with the change scheduled to take effect from November 1, 2026, or the date Yadav assumes charge, whichever is later.
Over the years, some of the Chief Secretaries became part of the local folklore.
Peerzada Ghulam Ahmad, a local officer, is one among such Chief Secretaries.
He served during the government of Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, and his tenure coincided with a period of institution-building and expansion of the state administration.
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The tenure of Pushkar Nath Kaul, who served as a Chief Secretary from March 27, 1977, to January 1, 1978, during Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah’s return to power in 1977, fell within a period of political transition and the restoration of an elected government after central intervention in state politics.
The tenure of Syed Muzaffar Aga, who served as a Chief Secretary from January 20, 1978, to April 30, 1980, under Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah’s government, formed part of the administration’s efforts to manage the J&K’s departments and development programmes after the political transition of 1977.
Mir Nasrullah, another local, who was the Chief Secretary from January 1, 1984, to January 31, 1986, served during Ghulam Mohammad Shah’s government, which came to power in 1984 after the dismissal of Sheikh Abdullah’s government, and his tenure coincided with a significant political change in the state.
Sheikh Ghulam Rasool, a local professor-turned-bureaucrat, served as Chief Secretary from September 21, 1992, to April 5, 1994, during a period of President’s rule and severe political instability associated with the militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, with the administration facing challenges involving law and order, the functioning of government offices, public services, and the restoration of administrative capacity.
The tenure of Ashok Jaitley, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1964 batch assigned to the Jammu and Kashmir cadre, who served as a Chief Secretary from October 9, 1996 to April 30, 2002, covered the transition from prolonged central rule to the restoration of an elected government in 1996 when the National Conference (NC) led by Farooq Abdullah returned to office.
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Jaitley was known for his work in rural development and economic administration. Before his elevation to the top post, he had been associated with reforms in the sericulture sector, including the removal of the state’s monopoly over the marketing of silk.
S SBloeria, who hailed from Jammu and served as Chief Secretary from September 30, 2002, to July 31, 2005, succeeded Jaitley and served through the end of Farooq Abdullah’s government and the 2002 Assembly election, which brought a coalition government led by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to power.
Vijay Bakaya, a local Kashmiri Pandit, served as Chief Secretary from August 1, 2005, to May 31, 2006, during Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s government.
C Phunsog, a Ladakhi officer, served as a Chief Secretary from May 31, 2006, to October 31, 2007, during Azad’s tenure as CM.
His appointment placed an officer from Ladakh at the head of the J&K bureaucracy.
B R Kundal, who served as a Chief Secretary from November 1, 2007, to June 2, 2008.
His appointment came during the final phase of the Congress-led coalition government.
Kundal’s tenure was short, and the principal administrative context was continuity in the functioning of government departments ahead of the political upheaval that followed the Amarnath land-transfer controversy in 2008.
The tenure of S SKapur, who was Chief Secretary from June 9, 2008, to January 31, 2011, covered the Amarnath land-transfer agitation, the collapse of the Congress-People’s Democratic Party (PDP) coalition in 2008, the Assembly election later that year and the formation of the National Conference-Congress government led by Omar Abdullah in January 2009.
Madhav Lal, who was the Chief Secretary from January 31, 2011, to February 18, 2013, served during Omar Abdullah’s government.
His period in office followed the 2010 unrest and included efforts by the administration to maintain public services, coordinate development programmes, and respond to the political and security situation.
Mohammad Iqbal Khandey, who was the Chief Secretary from February 18, 2013, to August 31, 2015, served during the final years of Omar Abdullah’s first stint as chief minister and the subsequent change of political leadership in 2015.
Khandey sought voluntary retirement in 2015 after the National Conference-Congress government completed its term, elections were held in late 2014, and a coalition of the PDP and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formed a government under Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in March 2015.
According to reports, his departure followed differences with the government over frequent transfers of senior officers, highlighting tensions surrounding the management of the civil service and the political executive’s authority over administrative appointments.
Braj Raj Sharma, a 1984-batch IAS officer, was the Chief Secretary from August 31, 2015, to April 28, 2017.
His tenure covered the death of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in January 2016, the subsequent period of Governor’s rule and the formation of a government under Mehbooba Mufti in April 2016.
Sharma had previously served as Principal Secretary in the Planning and Development and Home Department and as Chief Electoral Officer during the 2008 Assembly election.
During his tenure, the 2016 unrest following the killing of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani presented a major challenge to the civil administration.
Bharat Bhushan Vyas, who was Chief Secretary from April 28, 2017, to June 20, 2018, served during the final phase of the PDP-BJP coalition government.
The coalition collapsed in June 2018, leading to Governor’s Rule.
Vyas’s tenure ended amid another major change in the state’s political administration.
His term was also the final period before Jammu and Kashmir’s administration was led by an officer from another state cadre, B V R Subrahmanyam, who served as Chief Secretary from June 20, 2018, to May 30, 2021.
Subrahmanyam, a 1987-batch IAS officer of the Chhattisgarh cadre, took charge in June 2018 after serving as Additional Chief Secretary (Home) in Chhattisgarh.
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His tenure covered one of the most consequential administrative changes in J&K’s modern history.
On August 5, 2019, the Government of India announced the scrapping of Article 370 and Article 35-A that stripped J&K of its semi-autonomous character.
On October 31, 2019, J&K was downgraded from a state into a Union Territory with a legislature, while Ladakh was downgraded into a separate Union Territory without a legislature.
The reorganisation involved the division and allocation of administrative responsibilities, assets, employees, institutions, and government functions between the two Union Territories.
Subrahmanyam oversaw the coordination of the Union Territory’s administrative machinery during the transition.
His tenure also included the period of restrictions and security measures following the August 2019 changes, as well as the transition towards the new Union Territory framework.
Arun Kumar Mehta, a 1988-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre, succeeded Subrahmanyam as Chief Secretary from May 31, 2021, to November 30, 2023, after Subrahmanyam moved to the Union Commerce Ministry.
Mehta’s tenure covered the consolidation of J&K’s Union Territory administration, the continued implementation of post-2019 governance arrangements, and the integration of the former J&K cadre into the AGMUT cadre in 2021.
Atal Dulloo, a 1989-batch IAS officer of the J&K cadre, took over as Chief Secretary on December 1, 2023, and would continue to be in the post till his superannuation on October 31, 2026.
Dulloo had served in several departments of J&K, including finance, health, agriculture, and other administrative assignments, before serving as Secretary in the Union Home Ministry’s Department of Border Management.
His appointment had brought an officer with extensive experience in J&K back to the top bureaucratic post after central deputation.
His tenure covered the return of an elected government under Omar Abdullah following the 2024 Assembly election, the first Assembly election in the Union Territory since the 2019 reorganisation.
The administration during his tenure had to coordinate government departments under the Union Territory’s existing constitutional framework while the elected government pursued the restoration of statehood.
In October 2026, Dulloo became involved in a public controversy after opposing the introduction of a resolution in the Assembly seeking restoration of statehood.
The episode raised questions about the relationship between the elected government and the senior civil service.
Sajjan Singh Yadav, a 1995-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre, has been appointed to take charge as the 34th Chief Secretary of J&K from November 1, 2026, or the date he assumes charge, whichever is later.
Yadav has served in the Delhi administration and the Government of India, including assignments involving public finance, expenditure, public health, and nutrition programmes.
However, he has not previously served in J&K.
