The Defence Secretary’s post is said to be the most sought after and ‘blessed’ posting in the Government of India — anyone who sits on it once — is sure to take off.
The Defence Secretary is expected to be the administrative head of the Ministry of Defence, and one of the senior-most IAS officers — 23rd in Indian order of precedence in the government of India’s protocol list. The Defence Secretary draws the salary, and emolument equal to the chief secretary of state governments or the Vice Chief of the Army Staff/Army Commanders and officers in the rank of Lieutenant Generals in the Indian Armed Forces.
The Defence Secretary’s entitlements include a diplomatic passport and 9, New Moti Bagh, New Delhi — a Type-VIII bungalow as the official residence of the Defence Secretary.
An analysis of the 38 odd defence secretaries shows how a number of them were promoted as Cabinet Ministers, or State Governors after retirement, and suitably rewarded.
The trend started some started soon after independence when GS Bhalja the first Defence Secretary did not last even six months and was replaced on October 6, just 20 days before the first war after independence in J&K on October 27, 1947.
This cleared the deck for H. M. Patel independent India’s first Home Secretary (1946-1950) who also became the Defence Secretary (1947 and 1953). Patel was tasked to reduce the powers of the Indian Armed Forces in 1950, because of the fear that the Forces might take over the country. As desired by the political masters; Patel managed to create a separating wall between the bureaucracy, the Forces, and the Minister. Later as Finance Secretary, he started the practice of a separate defence budget being approved by the civilian government in the Parliament every year.
Patel reigned supreme as one of India’s highest-ranking civil servants till 1958 when he had to resign along with the then Finance Minister, T.T. Krishnamachari due to the Mundhra Scandal. Though this brought an end to his bureaucratic career, he bounced back as Finance Minister (1977 to 1979) in Prime Minister Morarji Desai’s first non-Congress government and later also served as Home Minister of India.
Another prominent civil servant M K Vellodi who served Defence Secretary was appointed Chief Minister of Hyderabad by the government of India after the fall of the Nizam rule.
O Pulla Reddy went on to be Chief Secretary of Madras State as well as founding vice-chancellor of A.P Agricultural University after his term as Defence Secretary from 14 June 1957 to 21 November 1962.
Coincidently his successor P V R Rao took charge as the sixth defence secretary of India on November 21– the day the 1962 War ended and held the post till April 3, 1965. He was awarded Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest Indian civilian award, in 1967.
Harish Chandra Sarin from Deoria in UP and alumnus of Cambridge University adorned the post of the Defence Secretary of India from November 3, 1968, till December 7, 1970. He was awarded Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest Indian civilian award and the First Special IMF Award of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation.
His successor K.B. Lall served as the Principal Defence Secretary of India during the Indo-Pak war in 1971. A personal favourite of Defence Minister Jagjivan Ram, Lall after retirement he was appointed Ambassador to the European Union and conferred Padma Vibhushan Award.
One of the last surviving ICS officers during his time Govind Narain had worked under Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi. As the Home Secretary from 1971 to 1973, he played a big role in planning the Bangladesh war and setting up of Mukti Bahini. Born on May 5, 1916, in UP’s Mainpuri, Oxford-educated Narain joined the ICS in 1939 and went on to be the country’s Home Secretary during the Bangladesh war. After retirement, he was sent off as the 8th Governor of Karnataka and awarded Padma Vibhushan.
P. K. Kaul a 1951 batch IAS officer, served as secretary commerce, finance and defence before serving as cabinet secretary of India from 1985-1986 and also served as alternate governor to International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB). He went on to be the Indian Ambassador to the USA from 1986 to 1989.
S. K. Bhatnagar another former defence secretary of India was accused of abusing his official position in 1986 when Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India to help the Swedish AB Bofors bag the Rs. 1437-crore contract to supply 155 mm howitzer guns to the Indian Army. He was one of the persons questioned by the CBI after registering the FIR. He was later made Governor to Sikkim.
T N Seshan another prominent Defence Secretary went on to serve as the 18th Cabinet Secretary of India, member of the Planning Commission and 10th Chief Election Commissioner of India (1990–96). He was bestowed with the Ramon Magsaysay Award for government service in 1996.
Seshan’s successor Naresh Chandra was a 1956 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre. A former lecturer in Allahabad University he had served as Chief Secretary of Rajasthan before taking charge as Defence Secretary. After his stint as Defence Secretary, he went on to be the Home Secretary of India and Cabinet Secretary of India. As the Cabinet Secretary, he was in charge of India’s nuclear program and appointed Governor of Gujrat before moving on as the Indian Ambassador to the United States. He was awarded India’s second-highest civilian honor, the Padma Vibhushan, for civil service.
N. N. Vohra a 1959 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Punjab cadre served as Defence Secretary for more than three years before being appointed Union Home Secretary after the 1993 Bombay serial bomb blasts. After retirement Vohra who headed a committee that submitted the first-ever official report on close links between criminals and politicians served as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India I K Gujral before moving on as the 12th governor of Jammu and Kashmir. He was the first civilian governor of Jammu and Kashmir in eighteen years after Jagmohan. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan.
After his stint as Defence Secretary Tata Ramachandra Prasad, popularly known as T. R. Prasad an Andhra Pradesh cadre bureaucrat from the 1963 batch of Indian Administrative Service went on to be the Cabinet Secretary of India. He was succeeded by Yogendra Narain a 1965 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.
Even before his retirement on 30 June 2002, Yogendra Narain who presided over many major reforms in the Defence Ministry made sure that there was a chair vacant for him in the Rajya Sabha Secretariat as Secretary-General. On completion of his term at the Rajya Sabha secretariat, he served as Director at Reliance Power and Reliance Infrastructure from 2007 to 2017. He is currently Chancellor of Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University (HNBGU) in Pauri Garhwal district of Uttrakhand. He has received the Dean Paul H. Appleby Award – given for distinguished civil service.
Shekhar Dutt a 1969 batch IAS from Madhya Pradesh and brother in law of Pulok Chatterjee Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh was elevated as Governor of Chhattisgarh after his retirement as Defence Secretary.
Vijay Singh a former, Madhya Pradesh Cadre 1970 batch IAS officer was appointed Deputy National Security Advisor after his term as Defence Secretary got over in August 2007. This ensured that he continued to hold the rank and pay of Secretary to the Government of India and dealt with Strategic and Defence-related subjects in the National Security Council Secretariat.
Just two months before retirement, as Secretary (Defence Production) Pradeep Kumar a 1972-batch Haryana cadre officer was promoted as Union Defence Secretary which prolonged his term. Even after retirement, from IAS he was appointed CVC which further extended his retirement date.
After retirement as Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma, a 1976 batch Indian Administrative Service officer belonging to Bihar cadre went on to be the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
After retirement as Defence Secretary Radha Krishna Mathur, a 1977 batch IAS officer of Tripura cadre was designated as the Chief Information Commissioner of India (CIC) and later went on to be the first Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Ladakh.
He was succeeded by G. Mohan Kumar, a 1979 batch Odisha Cadre IAS officer who was leading Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative in the defence sector, even before taking over as the new Defence Secretary.
Interestingly Mohan Kumar a close confidant of PM Modi and the then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar who was working as Secretary, Defence Production was due to retire at 60 but was given an extension of two years. He remained Defence Secretary from 25 May 2015 to 24 May 2017.
His successor Sanjay Mitra had served as Chief Secretary of West Bengal, Union Road Transport Secretary, Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, and as a consultant to the United Nations Development Programme. He formally took charge as Defence Secretary of India as an officer on special duty 25 May 2017, in the rank of secretary till 23 August 2019. He also served as acting chairperson of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for three months.
He was succeeded by the current Defence Secretary of India Ajay Kumar a 1985 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Kerala cadre. Kumar was appointed as Union Defence Secretary on 21st August 2019 and travelled to Paris along with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to take delivery of the first Rafale fighter jet.
