Ranchi, Aug. 5: Technocrats would soon replace the IAS officers heading four state-owned power companies, a move Jharkhand government believes would usher in professionalism and improve efficiency in the sector that is eyeing big-ticket investments.

According to a proposal cleared by chief minister Raghubar Das - he holds charge of the energy ministry - fresh recruitments are to be made for the post of CMD of Jharkhand Urja Vikas Nigam (JUVNL), the holding company, and MDs of the three subsidiary companies namely, Jharkand Bijli Vitaran Nigam (JBVNL) responsible for power distribution, Jharkhand Urja Sancharan Nigam (JUSNL), the transmission company and Jharkhand Urja Utpadan Nigam (JUUNL), the generation company.

Recruitments are to be made for the posts of directors to head finance, projects, technical and operations.

The post of CMD of JUVNL has been made equivalent to that of principal secretary. Applicants would be required to posses at least 25 years of related work experience.

Those applying for the posts of MDs should have at least 16 years of work experience, while those applying for directors, would need a minimum work experience of 14 years.

"The state government has been pondering over the idea of putting technical people with proven ability to run the various power utilities for quite some time now," said Amit Khare, finance secretary and ex-officio member of the board of directors of JUVNL.

"Following the unbundling of the former Jharkhand State Electricity Board on January 6, 2014, four new companies were created with JUVNL as the holding company and three subsidiary companies to manage generation, transmission and distribution. These are highly technical jobs," he added.

Once the proposal is cleared by the state cabinet, the government would put out advertisements inviting applications from interested candidates.

As of now, state energy secretary S.K.G. Rahate holds additional charge as CMD of JUVNL. Rahul Purwar, IAS, heads JBVNL, which is responsible for power distribution, and JUSNL, the power transmission company, as MD, while Sunil Kumar, IAS, heads JUUNL, the generation company, as MD.

Sources told The Telegraph that a severe shortage of IAS officials may have been the driving force behind the move. Against a sanctioned strength of 208 IAS officers, the actual number of working officers was only 148, resulting in a deficit of 60.

"There is already an acute crisis of IAS officers. Under the circumstances, it is quite difficult for us to spare IAS officers to run companies and other such institutions," admitted a high-ranking government official.