Alphons’ appointment as Chandigarh administrator on hold as Punjab objects

CHANDIGARH: The Centre’s move to appoint retired bureaucrat and BJP leader KJ Alphons as Chandigarh administrator was put on hold on Wednesday after objection from the Shiromani Akali Dal government in Punjab.

Alphons confirmed the development, saying the Punjab government had raised certain technical issues. The appointment of 63-year Alphons, a former IAS officer of the 1979 batch from Kerala, is set to end a 32-year practice of the Punjab governor holding additional charge of the union territory.

“I received a call from home minister Rajnath Singh last evening, informing me of the development. I am in Kerala, but will leave for New Delhi soon,” he told Hindustan Times.

Alphons is best known for his demolition drive against illegal encroachments in the national capital when he was heading the Delhi Development Authority in the 1990s. He quit bureaucracy in 2006 and joined the BJP in 2011.

“I am happy that the Prime Minister has re posed faith in me to give such a position. It’s a great city ... it’s a great job ... Though I don’t know much about the city, I have read a lot about it,” Alphons told PTI. The BJP executive committee member visited Chandigarh once.

The Centre’s decision to change Chandigarh’s administrative hierarchy is expected to upset alliance partner in poll-bound Punjab. It may embarrass the Akalis politically given that Chandigarh as state capital has been a longstanding contention between Punjab and Haryana.

Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh rejected the appointment, saying it was a blatantly unjust move aimed at snatching away Chandigarh from Punjab.

The Punjab governor has been officiating as Chandigarh administrator since 1984, when a separatist movement had engulfed the state. Punjab was then under President’ s rule. “Chandigarh is the capital of two states and it requires a full-time administrator ,” said Alphons, an UPSC topper of 1979, a native of Kerala’s Kottayam district.