Kashmir Impulse Desk
Srinagar, Oct 24
The Government of India has appointed senior bureaucrat Sajjan Singh Yadav as the next chief secretary of Jammu and Kashmir, replacing Atal Dulloo, according to an order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Yadav, a 1995-batch Indian Administrative Service officer of the Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre, will take charge from Nov. 1, 2026, or the date he assumes office, whichever is later.
The appointment ends weeks of speculation over who would lead the Union Territory’s administration. Yadav will be the first officer from the broader AGMUT cadre to serve as Jammu and Kashmir’s chief secretary since the former state-specific cadre was merged into the Union Territory cadre system in 2021.
Dulloo, a 1989-batch IAS officer, is due to retire on Oct. 31 after serving as chief secretary since December 2023. He turned 60 on Saturday.
The home ministry’s order did not give a reason for the decision not to extend Dulloo’s tenure. Earlier reports said Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had proposed a one-year extension.
Yadav’s appointment came despite the presence of several senior officers serving in Jammu and Kashmir, including Shaleen Kabra and Ashwani Kumar, both from the 1992 batch, and Dheeraj Gupta of the 1993 batch.
Other senior officers in the administration include Ashish Chandra Verma, Sheilender Kumar and Anil Kumar Singh. Several officers of earlier batches are also serving on deputation.
Yadav has held a range of administrative and policy positions, including senior roles in the Union finance ministry and the Delhi government. His assignments have covered public finance, nutrition, healthcare, taxation and urban administration.
He served as mission director of the National Nutrition Mission, also known as POSHAN Abhiyaan, and as director of the National Rural Health Mission. In the finance ministry, he held the posts of joint secretary, additional secretary and special secretary in the Department of Expenditure.
His Delhi assignments included positions as finance commissioner, commissioner of food and supplies, and chief executive officer of the Delhi Jal Board. He returned to the Delhi Jal Board role in June 2026 after being repatriated from the Centre at the home ministry’s request.
Yadav holds postgraduate qualifications in finance and public policy and has studied economics at Harvard University, according to the supplied biographical information. He is also the author of India’s Vaccine Growth Story: From Cowpox to Vaccine Maitri and Scaling Mount UPSC.
His career has largely been based in other AGMUT jurisdictions and central government departments, with no previous direct posting in Jammu and Kashmir, according to the supplied account.
The appointment comes as Jammu and Kashmir continues to operate under the Union Territory system, in which the lieutenant governor retains control over key areas including police, public order and the IAS administration, while the elected government manages other civilian responsibilities.
The chief secretary coordinates the work of government departments and plays a central role in implementing policy and managing relations between the bureaucracy, the elected administration and the lieutenant governor’s office.
Dulloo’s tenure included administrative and logistical responsibilities during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and Jammu and Kashmir’s first assembly elections in a decade.
In his final weeks in office, he was involved in a dispute with the elected government over a proposal to restore statehood. Dulloo and the administration’s law secretary wrote to Legislative Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather opposing the introduction and discussion of a resolution on the matter, citing legal concerns.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah objected to the intervention, which also prompted criticism from members of parliament and a notice of a privilege motion against the officials.
The government has not said whether the dispute influenced the decision on Dulloo’s tenure.
Dulloo has been mentioned in reports as a possible candidate to head the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission, which currently has no chairman. No formal announcement has been made on that appointment.
Yadav’s tenure will test how an officer drawn from the wider Union Territory cadre navigates Jammu and Kashmir’s distinct administrative arrangements and politically sensitive division of responsibilities between the elected government and the Centre.
