SHILLONG, Sep 28: Going by seniority, after the retirement of incumbent Chief Secretary, MS Rao on September 30, Rebecca Vanessa Suchiang is set to be the new chief secretary of Meghalaya.
Sources in the government state that there is no dispute that RV Suchiang will be the new chief secretary as she is the senior most IAS officer in the state right now.
Sources also said that the next senior IAS officer after RV Suchiang is Pankaj Jain, a 1990 batch officer, but he is unlikely to return to Meghalaya as he is currently posted as Additional Secretary in the Union Finance Ministry. The next in line is Additional Chief Secretary, DP Wahlang who is from the 1993 batch.
Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma is however tight-lipped on who will be the next chief secretary. He maintains that the new chief secretary will be appointed at the appropriate time.
Sources say that since MS Rao is retiring on September 30, the notification will be issued before that and Suchiang will take over as the chief secretary the same evening.
Presently, Suchiang who is holding the post of Additional Chief Secretary is looking after a host of departments including Personnel & A.R. Cabinet Affairs, Finance, Home (Police), Political, Home (Passport), Home (CD&HG), Ex-Officio Director General, MATI and Chairman-cum-MD, MeECL.
RV Suchiang belongs to the 1989 batch of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre.
The outgoing Chief Secretary MS Rao, an IAS officer of 1987 batch of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, was appointed to the post in December 2019 and the then Additional Chief Secretary, Hector Marwein, an officer of the 1985 batch of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, had petitioned the authorities stating that Rao was posted as the chief secretary by superseding him.
However, nothing came out of that petition and MS Rao continued as chief secretary.
