A Kashmiri Pandit IAS, a Jammu officer: Who are the two bureaucrats in J&K government's crosshairs

Amid stormy scenes that have marked the ongoing autumn session of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, two bureaucrats have found themselves in unlikely spotlight.

The Union Territory's (UT) Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo and Law Secretary Achal Sethi, earlier this week, wrote letters to Assembly Speaker A R Rather against the introduction of a resolution by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for restoration of J&K's statehood. On Wednesday, Peoples Democratic Party legislator Waheed Parra gave a notice to move a Motion of Privilege against the two officers.

"The power of an elected Legislature to initiate, deliberate upon, amend and adopt resolutions is a core parliamentary function. While officers are entitled to provide administrative or legal advice to the Government within the scope of their duties, such advice cannot be permitted to become an instrument for questioning, constraining or intruding upon the legislative privileges and authority of this House,'' Parra wrote to Speaker A R Rather.

Who are these two officers?

In fact, both the bureaucrats are natives of J&K: While Dulloo is a Kashmiri Pandit from the Valley, Sethi is a Dogra from Jammu.

Dulloo, a 1989-batch IAS officer, was appointed as the Chief Secretary of J&K on December 1, 2023. He is retiring next month (October 31) and is looking at an extension by the central government.

Sources reveal that even J&K's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders are favouring the idea of his continuation in office in view of his service - both before 2019, when J&K was a state, and after. A local BJP leader, with close links with the RSS, had been a strong votary of extension to Dulloo among government circles at the Centre.

Dulloo had been posted as Secretary, Border Management, in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs for nearly five months when he was repatriated to AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, and Union Territories) cadre for his posting as the Chief Secretary of J&K in December, 2023.

Born on October 24, 1966, in Srinagar, Dulloo completed his initial education at Tyndale Biscoe School, a well-known missionary school in Kashmir. He went on to pursue his B Tech from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, with a silver medal.

At the age of 22, he cracked the UPSC exam in his first attempt. His father was also a technocrat who retired as Chief Engineer.

Dulloo, whose first posting after joining the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) was as Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) in Ladakh in 1991, later served as SDM Reasi in 1992-1993 when it was part of Udhampur district. In 1993, Dulloo was appointed as Deputy Secretary in the Health Department. Later, in 1993-1995, he was posted at Raj Bhavan.

He served as Deputy Commissioner in various districts across J&K.

Between 1998 and 2009, Dulloo attended several training sessions on infrastructural development, institutional financing, negotiating strategies in public private partnership, and e-governance.

He later held various posts as Financial Commissioner in different departments of Jammu and Kashmir, including Health & Family Welfare, Medical Education, Finance, Horticulture/Agriculture, and Cooperation.

In 2009, Dulloo underwent special training on healthcare policy and programme management at Korea Institute of Health and Social Affairs, South Korea.

In 2014, he went to the USA to attend executive training on ethics and governance at University of California, Berkeley.

Dulloo was a recipient of the State Award for Meritorious Public Service on Republic Day in 2013. Before that, he was honoured for successfully conducting elections in Jammu & Kashmir's border Rajouri district in 1996.

Besides J&K, Dulloo served the Government of India as Joint Secretary, Rural Development. He has also held postings in several other departments, including Forests and Environment, Public Works, Water Resources, Rural Development and General Administration Department, among others.

Dulloo is the third officer from the Kashmiri Pandit community to become a Chief Secretary of J&K. Before him, Vijay Bakaya held the post between August 1, 2005, and May 31, 2006, and P N Kaul, who served in the capacity for nearly a year during Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah-led government in late 1970s.

Dulloo's wife is a doctor.

Achal Sethi, who was re-designated as Commissioner-Secretary, Law Department, early this year by the L-G administration, was a practising lawyer in J&K High Court before joining the Law Department. He, as Secretary of J&K Legislative Assembly, holding responsibilities of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, is stated to have played a vital role in the constitutional exercise pertaining to abrogation of article 370 and downgrading of J&K State into two separate Union Territories in 2019. These constitutional changes also abolished the Constitution of J&K, State flag along with the its special status within the union.

Interestingly, Achal Sethi is the son of well-known Communist leader and a member of the J&K's Constituent Assembly from 1951-57, Krishan Dev Sethi. Krishan Dev was the last surviving member of the J&K's own Constituent Assembly that was convened on October 31, 1951. This Constituent Assembly had set up the terms of the constitutional relationship between J&K and the Centre: it ratified J&K's accession to India, framed state constitution, initiated major land reforms (abolition of big landed estates and giving ownership of land to the tillers), designed State symbols like the J&K's flag and establishing Sadar-i-Riyasat as head of the state (elected by the legislators), which was unlike the governor in other states who is an appointee of the centre. This Constituent Assembly was dissolved on November 17, 1956.

Krishan Dev, who died at the age of 93 in 2021, was elected to the Assembly from Nowshera in Jammu in 1957. He was a vehement supporter of the special status of J&K and had played a key role to make the then Prime Minister of erstwhile J&K State, Sheikh Abdullah, introduce land reforms and abolish the money lending system in J&K.

Born in Mirpur on January 1, 1928, Krishan Dev Sethi migrated to Jammu after the partition. He was a highly regarded Left leader with following on either side of the Line of Control. Krishan Dev was jailed during the Quit Kashmir Movement spearheaded by Sheikh Abdullah. In 1975, when Sheikh Abdullah returned to power as Chief Minister, Sethi declined to accept his offer to join his government as a minister.

Krishan Dev was close to former Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed. In fact, PDP supremo and former CM Mehbooba Mufti used to stay at Krishan Dev's residence while completing her education in Jammu.