The government has extended by three months the services of J&K Chief Secretary Bharat Bhushan Vyas (IAS:1986:J&K) beyond November 30, the day he was scheduled to retire. Vyas was appointed as the Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir on April 28 this year, replacing Braj Raj Sharma (IAS:1984:JK) who was made an adviser to CM Mehbooba Mufti. He had then 07 months in hand to attain the retirement age. A 1986 batch officer, Vyas in his three-decade career as an IAS officer has held prized positions including deputy commissioner Srinagar, DC Udhampur, divisional commissioner Kashmir, principal secretary Finance and financial commissioner, Planning. He also had stints in Raj Bhavan as deputy secretary and principal secretary to Governor. During central deputation, Vyas also served as Private Secretary to Yashwant Sinha, then union finance minister. He served as principal secretary to three CMs of the State-Omar Abdullah, late Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, and incumbent CM Mehbooba Mufti. It may be noted that in September 2015, B R Sharma had superseded four seniors - Arun Kumar, Sonali Kumar, Ashok Angurana and Khursheed Ahmad Ganai - when the late Sayeed government picked him up to be the state's top civil servant.