A 1987 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Vini Mahajan, on Friday took over as the first woman Chief Secretary of Punjab.
Ms. Mahajan replaced the 1984 batch officer Karan Avtar Singh, who is slated to retire on August 31.
An official order said Ms. Mahajan has been posted as Chief Secretary and in addition as Principal Secretary, Department of Personnel and Vigilance. Mr. Singh has been posted as Special Chief Secretary, Governance Reforms and Public Grievances.
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Ms. Mahajan is the wife of Punjab’s Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta.
The only Punjab cadre officer currently in the State who is empanelled to hold the position as Secretary, Government of India, Ms. Mahajan was till now serving as Additional Chief Secretary (Investment Promotion, Industries and Commerce, IT and Governance Reforms).
Ms. Mahajan served in the office of the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from 2005-2012 and handled matters relating to finance, industry and commerce, telecom, IT, etc. She was part of the core team of the Central government that put together India’s domestic response during and following the global financial meltdown.
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In 1995, she became the first woman officer to be posted as Deputy Commissioner in Punjab’s Ropar.
Stand-off
Notably, last month, there was a stand-off between Mr. Karan Avtar Singh and several Ministers in the Punjab Cabinet. The Ministers led by Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal had even announced not to attend any meetings in which Mr. Karan Avtar Singh would participate.
On May 9, the Ministers had walked out of a pre-Cabinet meeting on excise policy over the then Chief Secretary’s alleged “unacceptable behaviour” with Cabinet Minister Charanjit Singh Channi. Later, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had to intervene to resolve the impasse.