Former finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg on Friday quelled speculations about him being upset with his transfer to the power ministry, reported PTI. Garg said there was no connection between his transfer and his application for voluntary retirement from the Indian Administrative Service. Earlier in the day, he took charge as the secretary in the Ministry of Power.

“I had discussed my VRS [voluntary retirement] with the Prime Minister’s Office on July 18...much ahead of the transfer order,” Garg told reporters. “There is no connection between the two.” Garg was transferred on July 24. The bureaucrat said his VRS application was still under consideration. Garg on Thursday said he had applied for voluntary retirement with effect from October 31.

Garg is a 1983 batch IAS officer from the Rajasthan cadre and has previously served as an executive director at the World Bank. He is due to retire in October 2020.

Garg was the secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs. He was in charge of fiscal policy and matters related to the Reserve Bank of India. He was also involved in the preparation of the Union Budget. Garg was the Finance Secretary as well as he was the most senior among the five secretaries in the Ministry of Finance. Atanu Chakraborty will replace Garg.