Overview

• A late phone call from Delhi prompted the cabinet to extend Jain’s service beyond his planned June 30 retirement.
• This is the first instance since the state’s creation in 2000 that a chief secretary’s tenure has been prolonged.
• Five senior IAS officers—Renu G Pillay, Subrat Sahoo, Amit Agrawal, Richa Sharma and Manoj Kumar Pingua—are now in contention for the top post.
• Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai holds the final authority on the appointment, underscoring political influence over the selection.
• Jain, a 1989-batch officer and the state’s longest-serving chief secretary, has led Chhattisgarh’s bureaucracy since November 2020 after stints as district collector and departmental secretary.