Ranchi, Nov. 22: Minutes after chief minister Madhu Koda left for Delhi, the personnel department notified the transfers of as many as 16 deputy commissioners.

Deoghar DC Ajay Kumar Singh was shifted, along with 15 of his counterparts, including those of Hazaribagh, Palamu, Koderma and Chaibasa.

Koda will be away in Delhi till Saturday.

The transfer of Singh was on the cards ever since he invited the wrath of Chief Justice M. Karpagavinayagam by violating protocol during his official visit to Deoghar.

The DCs of Koderma and Giridih too have been shifted. Both had been accused by the UPA and the NDA of showing favours to Babulal Marandi during the Koderma bypoll.

Kulwant Singh, a forest service officer posted as special secretary in the human resource development, has been shifted to IT. Singh, sources said, was moved as HRD minister Bandhu Tirkey perceived that he was “anti-minority”.

Ranchi Municipal Corporation administrator Ravi Shankar Verma has been made the new deputy commissioner of West Singhbhum, Koda’s home district. The RMC post has been kept vacant.

The government has spared N.M. Kulkarni and Beela Rajesh, posted in Jamshedpur and Dhanbad respectively for quite some time.