Senior IAS officer and principal secretary (finance) S.N. Sahai, will continue with the Delhi government for now as the Centre has cancelled his appointment as additional secretary in the Union commerce ministry. Mr Sahai is presently working as principal secretary (finance and home) in the Delhi government. He is also holding an additional charge of chief secretary K.K. Sharma who is on leave till October 18. Mr Sahai was supposed to be relieved by October 18. He was appointed as the additional secretary in the commerce ministry by the DoPT in September.

A highly placed source said that the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) has cancelled the appointment of Mr Sahai as additional secretary in the Union government. An order to this effect was issued without citing any reasons by the Department of Personnel and Training.

Considered close to deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, the 1986 batch IAS officer of the UT cadre was first transferred to Goa as chief secretary in March this year. Later, the order was revised and he was posted in the commerce ministry. The Delhi government has been facing an acute shortage of IAS and DANICS level officers.

At present, there are only a handful of officers in the rank of the principal secretary in the city administration.