The Union Home Ministry on January 4 ordered a fresh round of transfers under the AGMUT cadre, resulting in multiple postings in and out of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The orders were issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs with immediate effect as part of a wider administrative reshuffle.
In the IAS cadre, four officers have been transferred out of the islands. Satyendra Singh Dursawat (2012 batch), who was serving as Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, has been moved out along with Aman Gupta (2013 batch), who was handling the Environment, Forest, Science and Technology portfolio in the A&N Administration. Arjun Sharma (2015 batch), Deputy Commissioner of South Andaman and Commissioner (GST), and Azharuddin Zahiruddin Quazi (2020 batch) have also been transferred. At the same time, Hemant Kumar (2013 batch) and Vandana Rao (2015 batch) have been posted to the Union Territory.
The IPS cadre has also seen key changes. Niharika Bhatt (2015 batch), who was serving as Superintendent of Police, Marine Force and Commandant, IRBn, and Sunny Gupta (2020 batch), posted as Superintendent of Police (District), Nicobar, have both been transferred out of the islands.
In the DANICS cadre, officers posted to the Andaman & Nicobar Islands include Rajanish Kumar Singh (2007), Gurpreet Singh (2013), Ambika Ratnoo (2020), Anita Yadav (2021), Nitesh Singh Rawat (2021) and Gaurav Saini (2024). Officers transferred out from the islands are Ashish Joon (2020), Vikram Singh (2020), Sapna Priya (2020), Jatinder Sohal (2020) and Abhishek Gulia (2020).
The DANIPS cadre has also seen movement both ways. Officers posted to the islands are Deependra Kumar Singh (2014), Suma Madda (2014), Sunil (2014), Rahul Vikram (2018) and Neeraj Tokas (2022). Officers transferred out from the Andaman & Nicobar Islands include Kumar Abhishek (2015), Brij Mohan Meena (2019), Yogita Sharma (2019) and Firoz Alam (2020).
The Andaman & Nicobar Islands are a centrally administered Union Territory, governed directly by the Centre through a Lieutenant Governor appointed by the President. Unlike states, the Union Territory does not have an elected legislative assembly, with key administrative and policy decisions routed through the Union Home Ministry under the AGMUT cadre system.
Officials said the transfers are routine cadre postings that typically take place after the completion of a three-year tenure. They added that the movements involving officers from the islands are part of a wider reshuffle across multiple Union Territories and AGMUT regions, rather than being specific to the Andaman & Nicobar administration alone.
The transfer orders take effect immediately, with the officers concerned directed to assume charge at their new postings without delay.
