Shipping Secretary Rajive Kumar (IAS:1981:UP) was on Tuesday repatriated to his state cadre of UP where he may be appointed as chief secretary. It may seem that the principle of continuity and a longer tenure for secretaries are slowly but surely being evaded - at least in the Ministry of Shipping and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. In these two ministries, many senior most officers were replaced & shifted frequently in the last seven months; though all it was the outcome of routine affairs and natural progression. Rajive's repatriation may be the last in the series of transfers which started with the shifting of erstwhile NHAI  Chairman Raghav Chandra (IAS:1982:MP) to National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) in November last year. On 3rd March 2017, Inland Waterways Authority of India's former chairman Amitabh Verma (IAS:1982:BH) was similarly repatriated to his state cadre of Bihar for reasons best known to authority. The third move in the series which left one and all puzzled was Sanjay Mitra's (IAS:1982:WB) appointment on May 10 as Defence Secretary. Even though Rajive's repatriation was most speculated, the transfer endorses the viewpoint that the principle of continuity and longer tenure is being, wittingly or unwittingly, shot down. It is important to underline that the NaMo administration was recently admired for its approach ensuring longer tenure for secretaries which probably was the main reason that it opted for the empanelment of two batches (1984 & 1985) together as Secretary/Secretary-equivalent.