Shimla, June 16: In a major bureaucratic reshuffle following the controversial death of Chief Engineer Vimal Negi, the Himachal Pradesh government has removed Additional Chief Secretary Onkar Sharma from all key departments and reassigned him solely to the Tribal Development department.
The Personnel Department issued the late-night notification stripping Sharma — a 1994-batch IAS officer — of influential portfolios including Home, Vigilance, Revenue, and Jal Shakti. These departments had placed him at the core of state governance, and his reassignment marks a sharp fall from grace, especially considering he was once tipped to become Chief Secretary.
In contrast, Hairkesh Meena, a 2012-batch IAS officer whose name is listed in the FIR in connection with Negi’s death, has been posted as Special Secretary, Youth Services and Sports. Meanwhile, no official word has emerged on the future posting of Shimla SP Sanjeev Gandhi, who was also sent on leave amid allegations of mishandling the case and after the matter was handed over to the CBI at the family’s insistence for a free and fair probe.
Sharma, along with Meena and Gandhi, was asked to proceed on leave on May 27, following questions over alleged procedural lapses in the early handling of the Negi case. Sharma had been assigned to lead a fact-finding inquiry into the suspicious death. However, he drew sharp attention when he refused to entertain a departmental request from the Power Department to allow officers named in the FIR to present their version.
Adding to the controversy, Sharma and the then DGP Atul Verma submitted affidavits before the High Court without consulting the Advocate General, a move that reportedly irked Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and contributed to Sharma’s sidelining.
As per the latest assignments:
• The Home, Vigilance, and Revenue departments will now be overseen by Kamlesh Kumar Pant, a 1993-batch officer.
• The Jal Shakti department was already reassigned on May 27 to Kadam Sandeep Vasant, a 2008-batch officer who currently serves as Secretary, Technical Education.
Sharma, who previously also chaired the Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board, is widely regarded as a principled and efficient officer, a reputation that has sparked a wave of support for him on social media. Many users called the government’s action against him unjust and politically motivated, questioning the logic behind penalising the officer who led the internal probe.
With Sharma and Meena set to resume duties on Monday, the controversy surrounding Negi’s death continues to cast a shadow over the state’s top bureaucracy, raising questions about transparency, accountability, and internal power dynamics within the government.
