The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Ajoy Mehta is set to take over as the new Chief Secretary of Maharashtra, while outgoing Chief Secretary UPS Madan has been assigned as a special advisor to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on contract basis.
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Mr. Fadnavis confirmed the appointments to The Hindu .
Mr. Madan opted for voluntary retirement barely a month after taking charge as Chief Secretary (CS). The government had forwarded a proposall, prepared at a high-level meeting on Wednesday afternoon, to the Election Commission of India (ECI) for approval to appoint a new CS, since the model code of conduct is in place.
As the longest-serving BMC Commissioner, who in a rare feat also presented a fourth civic budget, Mr. Mehta’s tenure was marked by his strict and swift action against errant officials. Be it the road scam, e-tendering scam or the Jogeshwari plot case, Mr. Mehta came down heavily on the guilty. His time in the office also saw the start of the Coastal Road project and the formation of the Development Plan (2014-2034). “Between 1992-1995, when he was collector of Ahmednagar district, he handled the extreme drought situation there,” a source said. Mr. Mehta earlier headed the State’s power sector from 2009 to 2015. The 1984 IAS batch officer is set to retire in September.
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He will be succeeded as BMC commissioner by Pravin Pardeshi, a 1985 IAS batch officer, who is at present the Additional Chief Secretary with the Chief Minister’s Office.
The officers are likely to take charge of the respective posts on Monday.
Mr. Madan will now be a special advisor (Chief Secretary rank) to Mr. Fadnavis for one year. His tenure as CS is the shortest in the State, as he served just over a month in office. Before him, the record was held by A.K. Mago, who occupied the office for just four months.
Sources said the government had suggested three names for the CS post in its proposal: Mr. Mehta, Additional Chief Secretary (Industries) Satish Gavai, and Additional Chief Secretary (Housing) Sanjay Kumar, all 1984 IAS batch officers.
Mr. Madan had taken charge as the CS from D.K. Jain, who was appointed judicial member, Lokpal. In March, the ECI had put on hold the government’s proposal to appoint Mr. Madan, who was then the Finance Secretary. It had raised queries in the proposal and asked why Mr. Jain, who was to retire on January 31, was given an extension. Presidential assent to Mr. Jain’s name for Lokpal came in the first week of March, after which Mr. Madan was elevated as CS.
(With inputs from Tanvi Deshpande)