Desk,02-May; The 2010 IAS topper, Dr Shah Faesal, will be the first civil service officer from Jammu and Kashmir to join the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) as the orders of his appointment are expected any time during the current month. Following his reinstatement and the Union Territory governments no objection to his Central deputation, the 39-year-old Kashmiri Muslim officer has been cleared for his crucial posting in the South Block.According to highly placed authoritative sources, days before his joining back in Jammu, Faesal met the Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his residence in New Delhi. It was not clear what transpired between the two in the one-on-one meeting for 45 minutes but immediately thereafter the bureaucracy began clearing decks for Faesal’s posting in the , which is a part of the Prime Minister’s Office.‘Since there’s normally no room for IAS officers in the NSCS, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) would transfer one vacancy to accommodate Shah Faesal. This decision has been taken at the highest level. DoPT in coordination with the Ministry of Home Affairs, which administers the IAS and IPS cadre in Union Territories, would be issuing necessary orders in the current month’, said a top-ranking source.Faesal’s meeting with Shah is seen as a courtesy call to thank the Home Minister , who had accepted his application to withdraw the resignation and rejoin the service. The Home Minister is also understood to have put in a word for Faesal’s smooth return to Jammu and his transition from the UT to the Centre.Following the Centre’s approval to his reinstatement, Faesal appeared at the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta’s office at Jammu late in the evening, ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit. After a brief meeting with Mehta, Faesal dropped his joining report with Principal Secretary General Administration Department Manoj Dwivedi. After the PM’s visit on 24 April, the J&K Government sent the NOC for Faesal’s Central deputation to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).Immediately after returning from the United States of America in January 2019, the J&K cadre IAS officer announced his resignation from the service. In 2018, he was selected as an Edward Mason Fellow at John F Kennedy School at Harvard University. Leaving his fellowship halfway, he returned to Kashmir and began dabbling in politics.Initially he intended to join the National Conference (NC) which, according to well-placed sources, had decided to field him as its candidate in the Lok Sabha elections from Baramulla-Kupwara. (CNS)
