AMARAVATI: Months after he took voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) from the IAS, former Union Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg who served under Modi government at the Centre has been appointed as advisor to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for resource mobilisation.
Garg has been assigned the rank of a Cabinet Minister, as per an order issued by Principal Secretary (Political) Praveen Prakash. He will hold the post for two years. Garg is an IAS officer of the 1983 batch of the Rajasthan cadre.
Garg, who was Finance and Economic Affairs Secretary, opted for early retirement from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in July last year after the presentation of the Union Budget. Garg had been transferred as Power Secretary after which he demitted service. Garg maintained that the VRS application was sent before the transfer.
Garg has been quite vocal in about the economic policies of the government in recent months. He had also presented a note on reforms that the government should undertake to the Centre.
There were differences in the government as Garg is believed to be the architect of the budget proposal to raise USD 10 billion by selling sovereign bonds in external currencies, for the first time, a move that has faced severe criticism from several experts, including former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan.
Garg was also at loggerheads with other members of the Bimal Jalan panel, set up to decide RBI's economic capital framework, and had submitted a dissent note to the panel. "The VRS application was submitted late on Wednesday.
The process requires a notice-serving time of three months. However, he (Garg) had requested to be relieved with immediate effect," a government official aware of the development said, requesting anonymity.
The state government also appointed 2009-batch IAS officer Kartikeya Misra as Special Secretary for resource mobilisation and institutional finance in the Finance Department. He will be in charge of new revenue-generating projects taken up by various departments, an order issued by Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney said.
Misra has also been given the full additional charge of MD, AP State Financial Corporation.