Ranchi, Dec. 29: Two top posts of state, that of the home secretary and Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) chairman, will fall vacant from January 1, with power corridors of Project Building buzzing on the probables for the coveted seats.

Present incumbents, home secretary N.N. Pandey (an IAS of additional chief secretary rank) and JPSC chairman D.K. Shrivastava (a former Indian Forest Service officer) will retire on December 31.

If a Project Building source is to be believed, names of three senior IAS are doing the rounds for the post of the home secretary, considered the most important chair after the chief secretary. They are Sudhir Tripathi, Sukhdev Singh and Arun Kumar Singh, IAS officers of batches 1985, 1987 and 1988, respectively.

Tripathi, currently the additional chief secretary of state health, medical education and family welfare department, has returned from central deputation recently. Sukhdev Singh is a principal secretary rank officer holding the charge of state forests, environment and climate change and water resource departments. Arun Kumar Singh is the principal secretary of urban development and housing department.

According to insiders, the names of N.N. Pandey, who will retire as home secretary, and K. Vidyasagar, who retired as additional chief secretary of health, medical education and family welfare on November 30, are being considered for posts of JPSC chairman and state election commissioner. The chair of the election commissioner is lying vacant since July this year, when the term of Shiv Basant, who also served as state chief secretary earlier, ended.

However, no official word is out yet. State personnel, administrative reforms and Rajbhasa department's principal secretary Nidhi Khare said they were yet to get any directive on the matter.