New Delhi: Former finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg on Friday said there is no connection between his transfer from the Finance Ministry to Power Ministry and his VRS offer, as he had discussed his voluntary retirement with the Prime Minister's Office on July 18.
The 1983 batch IAS officer on Friday claimed that he was happy to assume the charge as power secretary.
"I am happy to be a new power secretary. This ministry has so many challenges and at the same time, it has so many opportunities. In fact, the power sector could definitely play a big role in making India $5 trillion economies by 2024-25," said Garg immediately after taking charge as India's New power secretary.
Elaborating further, he said the VRS proposal was sent much before the transfer order and he was grateful to the government for support.
Read More:Subhash Chandra Garg takes over as new Power Secretary
Asked whether his VRS proposal is accepted by the government, he replied that there is a due process and the proposal is under consideration as it takes time.
Earlier in the day, Garg took over as the new Power Secretary.
Garg, the senior-most officer in the Ministry of Finance, was shifted to the Power Ministry on Wednesday. Thereafter he announced that he had applied for voluntary retirement from service on Thursday.
"Handed overcharge of Economic Affairs today (Thursday). Learned so much in the Finance Ministry and Economic Affairs Dept. Will take charge in Power Ministry tomorrow (Friday). Have also applied for Voluntary Retirement from the IAS with effect from 31st October," Garg had tweeted on Thursday.
Asked why he didn't sign the Bimal Jalan Committee report (on RBI reserves), he replied that the panel had not completed its deliberations.
Garg was in charge of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA). However, in a surprise move, he was named Power Secretary in an order issued late on Wednesday.
As the DEA Secretary, he was in charge of fiscal policy, RBI-related matters, and was closely involved in the preparation of the Union Budget.
The development took place just a day after Parliamentary procedure for approval of Modi 2.0 government's maiden union budget for 2019-20 was completed.
