NEW DELHI: In one of the biggest bureaucratic reshuffles in recent times, the Centre transferred close to 50 officers of additional and joint secretary level over the past two days. Given the scale of the reshuffle and the fact that orders for 48 of these officials were issued late Tuesday night, the shake-up is being dubbed by babus as "midnight massacre".As many as 40 of those transferred are Indian Administrative Service officers while others belong to Indian Revenue Service, Indian Postal Service, Indian Forest Service and Indian Civil Accounts Service, among others.A majority of these officials were holding post of joint secretary in various ministries making the reshuffle as one of the biggest such exercises at the Centre. Sources said such massive transfers are generally seen in states such as Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu but they were so far a rarity at the Centre. After the elections, the bureaucracy was abuzz with expectations of a major reshuffle at the secretary level, but other than changing the revenue secretary, the BJP government has stayed with top-ranking officers and even gave a six month extension to cabinet secretary Ajit Seth.While the government has termed the reshuffle of mid-ranking bureaucrats as "routine administrative transfers", the buzz in various ministries is that the transfers have been done keeping in mind various factors which include efficiency of a bureaucrat, his suitability for a particular post and proximity to the UPA government in the past.While several postings are on account of completion of tenure at the Centre or promotion, there are several cases where officers have been sent back to their parent cadre, known as premature repatriation in bureaucratic circles.A list of those transferred was put out by the department of personnel and training (DoPT) on Wednesday and reveals that there have been significant changes in the home and petroleum ministries.Some of the significant transfers include that of 1989 batch IAS officer I S Chahal, a joint secretary in the home ministry, who has been shifted to the ministry women and child development. Chahal has worked as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to former home minister Sushilkumar Shinde.Similarly, Rakesh Kumar Singh, who was holding the post of joint secretary in petroleum ministry, has been transferred to department of agriculture. Another petroleum ministry joint secretary, Prashant Kumar Singh, has been appointed as managing director of National Cooperative Consumers' Federation under department of consumer affairs.Umesh Sinha (R), a 1986 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, has been appointed as deputy election commissioner (JS level) in the Election Commission. (TOI photo)Uday Singh Kumawat has gone from agriculture ministry to revenue department, while M Ariz Ahmed, director, department of school education and literacy under HRD ministry has been appointed joint secretary in department of pharmaceuticals. Similarly, HRD ministry joint secretary Praveen Prakash has moved to urban development ministry.Nisha Singh who was dealing with UPA's flagship urban renewal mission — JNNURM — in the urban development ministry under Kamal Nath has been shifted to department of atomic energy. After the change of guard, she was in charge of Narendra Modi's pet project of developing "Heritage Cities" which includes his own constituency, Varanasi.The DoPT has also notified the transfer of Sambit Tripathy, an IRS officer, as officer on special duty attached to petroleum and natural gas minister Darmendra Pradhan. Though Tripathy, who was a director in the shipping ministry, had joined the petroleum ministry, the formal transfer came on Tuesday.Some appointments in home ministry include that of Hitesh Kumar S Makwana, Rajit Punhani and Gopal Krishna Dwivedi. Makwana, a 1995 batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre was on compulsory wait list in shipping ministry. He has been appointed in place of S Suresh Kumar, a 1988 batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre, who completes his extension deputation tenure on September 28 in the home ministry.Punhani, a 1991 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, has been appointed in place of Nirmaljeet Singh Kalsi, a 1984 batch IAS officer of Punjab cadre, who was adviser in inter-state council secretariat.Dwivedi, a 1993 batch IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre, has been appointed in place of R K Srivastava, a 1984 batch IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre, who completed his tenure on August 27. Umesh Sinha, a 1986 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, has been appointed as deputy election commissioner (JS level) in the Election Commission.Arti Bhatnagar, a 1990 batch officer of Indian Defence Accounts Service, has been appointed as joint secretary (Security) in cabinet secretariat. Sonali Singh, a 1987 batch Indian Civil Accounts Service officer, has been appointed as additional secretary (JS level) in Central Vigilance Commission.