Rajasthan Govt not giving clearance for deputation to centre, IAS officer in a fix

A Rajasthan cadre (2013 batch) IAS officer Ashish Gupta has been appointed as Joint Director in the National Testing Agency (NTA) under the Department of Higher Education, Government of India but he has not been relieved yet despite the fast approaching deadline. It is the second such incident in recent past, when any officer posted in the union Government on deputation has been relieved quite late. The deputation tenure is set for four years. The formal appointment order was issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), GoI on March 27, 2025 clearly stating that the officer should join the post within three weeks from the date of issue of DoPT’s appointment order, failing which the process of debarment from the Central Staffing Scheme shall be initiated. This three-week deadline is concluding on April 16, 2025. Despite the urgency, the Department of Personnel (DoP) in the Rajasthan has not yet issued Ashish Gupta’s relieving order. The matter is further complicated as April 14 is a holiday after Sunday. Another recent case involves IAS officer from Rajasthan, Prakash Rajpurohit. His relieving order was also delayed until the last moment.