Gupta was appointed officiating CS on October 1, 2025, after the retirement of Prabodh Saxena (IAS: 1990: HP). Despite being senior, Gupta had earlier been overlooked for the top post. Among the frontrunners included K K Pant (IAS: 1993: HP), who has a long tenure till December 2030. Anuradha Thakur (IAS: 1994: HP) and Onkar Sharma (IAS: 1994: HP) are also being seen as strong contenders. But Thakur may prefer to continue at the Centre. 

This is to recall that the Himachal Pradesh government had ordered the transfer of senior-most IAS officer Sanjay Gupta (IAS: 1988) on September 30, 2026 to deal with uncertainty over the post of Chief Secretary in the past with an unusual bureaucratic manoeuvre by giving him charge in the rank, status, and responsibility equivalent to the Chief Secretary of the state. The order says, “Shri Sanjay Gupta, IAS (HP:1988), shall work under the overall administrative control and supervision of the Hon'ble Chief Minister and shall be equivalent in rank, status and responsibility to the post of Chief Secretary to the Government of Himachal Pradesh."