Paul H. Appleby Award to Dr Sudhir Singh Bloeria IAS (Rtd) 11th of October 2017
Dr Sudhir Singh Bloeria IAS (Rtd), former Chief Secretary of J&K state has been awarded this year’s Paul H. Appleby Award for distinguished service to IIPA and to the Public Administration in the country. The award was given by His Excellency Vice President of India Honble Sh. Venkaiah Naidu in the 63rd Annual IIPA conference held in New Delhi 11th October, 2017. The award has been instituted by the Indian Institute of Public Administration in the name of Dean Paul H. Appleby, on whose recommendation the Institute was established in 1954. Previous recipients of the award include Shri N. N. Vohra, Honble Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Dr Karan Singh, Shri Veeranna Aivalli, former DG Police & founder Honorary Secretary of the J&K Regional Branch and Dr. Ashok Bhan IPS (Rtd) former DG Police and Patron of IIPA J&K Regional Branch. Dr.C.M.Seth IFS (Rtd) Vice-Chairman IIPA J&K Regional Branch received the award on behalf of Dr.S.S.Bloeria IAS (Rtd). The following citation for Dr S.S.Bloeria was read on the occasion: “A former Chief Secretary in the Government of Jammu & Kashmir and Vice Chancellor of the Central University of Jammu, Dr. Sudhir S. Bloeria has remained actively associated with the Jammu & Kashmir Regional Branch of Indian Institute of Public Administration since 1982. He served with distinction as Chairman of the Regional Branch for five years between 2004-2009 and established strong academic links with Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi. A soldier, having served in the Indian Army as a Commissioned Officer, Dr. Bloeria took part in the 1971 war with Pakistan in the Fazilka sector. In the Indian Administrative Service of Jammu & Kashmir cadre, Dr. Bloeria served as Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, Development Commissioner, Ladakh and as Secretary to the State Government in various departments including Food, Civil Supplies, Transport, Forests, Public works, Health and Medical Education. As Special Commissioner, Rajouri and Poonch districts in 1990-92, he led the team to control the Militancy spreading in state during that critical period”. Always an innovative administrator, Dr. Bloeria was principally responsible to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Jammu to set-up a ‘Centre for Excellence in Public Administration and Management’ by virtue of which a piece of land was made available to the Regional Branch of Indian Institute of Public Administration to construct its own premises after almost three decades of its existence. Under his Chairmanship of the Branch, Dr. Bloeria was responsible for mobilizing substantial resources to enhance the activities of the regional branch. Dr. Bloeria, a Graduate of the National Defence College, New Delhi is a keen military historian who was awarded a Ph.D. for his thesis on ‘The Battles of Zojila – 1948’, which was later published in a form of a book. He has published several books and articles widely covering important historical battles, insurgency and terrorism. He has lectured widely as a visiting faculty and has been a multifaceted administrator and academician