Himachal’s ACS (Home) Omkar Sharma Sent on Extended Leave, Additional Charge Handed to Three IAS Officers

Shimla, May 27:
In a major administrative shake-up following the Vimal Negi case, the Himachal Pradesh government has sent Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Omkar Sharma on extended leave. The move comes a day after DGP Atul Verma and SP Shimla Sanjeev Gandhi were also relieved of their duties temporarily.

Sharma, who was handling several key portfolios—including Revenue, Home, Vigilance, Town & Country Planning, Jal Shakti, Jal Jeevan Mission, Urban Development, and Chairperson of the State Pollution Control Board—has now been divested of all responsibilities. In his absence, the government has reassigned his departments among three senior IAS officers.

Kamlesh Kumar Pant, Additional Chief Secretary (Forests), has been given additional charge of the Home, Vigilance, and Revenue departments, along with the chairmanship of the Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board.

Kadam Sandeep Vasant will take over the Jal Shakti Department, while Rakhil Kahlon has been given additional responsibility for the Tribal Development Department.

Notably, Omkar Sharma had recently submitted a separate report to the High Court on the Vimal Negi case, as directed by the state government. His report is said to have differed significantly from other official findings.

On returning from Delhi to Shimla, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had made it clear in a press conference that the state government would not tolerate lapses in administrative discipline or coordination. He acknowledged that the reports submitted by the DGP, SIT, and ACS (Home) showed clear contradictions, indicating a serious lack of interdepartmental coordination.

The mystery surrounding Chief Engineer Vimal Negi’s disappearance on March 10 and the recovery of his body from Gobind Sagar Lake in Bilaspur on March 18 has drawn intense public and judicial scrutiny. The contradictory findings in the initial police and DGP reports led the High Court to order a CBI probe. Since then, deep fissures within the state’s top administrative and police ranks have become increasingly visible.

A day after the High Court directive, SP Shimla publicly accused the DGP of misrepresentation. In response, the DGP recommended the SP’s suspension in a letter to the Home Department, bringing the internal power struggle squarely into public view.