Quite naturally, 1984 batch IAS officers are waiting with bated breath to see their names on the empanelment list of secretaries. The original strength of the 1984 batch is 123, out of which 65 did not get empanelled as Additional Secretary or AS equivalent. Out of 123, 31 have already retired and altogether 54 were empanelled as Additional Secretary whereas 04 were empanelled as Additional Secretary equivalent. Only 53 officers are in the race for Secretary empanelment. Out of 54 officers empanelled as AS, P K Taneja (Gujarat cadre) and Yashpal Singh (former CS of Tripura) retired a couple of weeks back. Out of 04 empanelled as AS equivalent, 03 officers have already retired whereas P C Meena remains in the 2020 league with his superannuation scheduled in June 2020.  Out of a total of 54 officers empanelled as AS, 01 has already retired whereas 03 will retire in 2017. P Marapandiyan (KL) and R K Srivastava (JH) are set to retire in May whereas V S Senthil (KL) will retire in September this year. Altogether 11 officers will be retiring in 2018. If one goes by the assumption that the PMO would prefer to pick officers on a long-term basis for Secretary level postings (post empanelment), 39 officers seem to have brighter prospects as they will retire in 2019 or beyond. It may be worth underlining that out of those having service till 2019 or beyond, 13 officers will retire in 2019, fifteen will retire in 2020, 09 officers will retire in 2021, and two will retire in 2022.