Ajay Bhushan Pandey Ajay Bhushan Pandey With Maharashtra cadre IAS officer Ajay Bhushan Pandey being named as India’s next Revenue Secretary, Maharashtra will now have two secretary-rank officers in the Union government. Notching up another career high, Pandey is set to take over the key position once incumbent Hasmukh Adhia retires this month-end. He will also continue to hold his current positions as UIDAI’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the GST network for the time being. Sanjeevani Kutty (1983 batch, Maharashtra) has been serving as one of the secretaries in the Home ministry. Senior state bureaucrats are of the opinion that following the latest appointment, Pandey’s chances of returning to the state cadre anytime in the near future have been diminished further. Film On Jyotiba Phule Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has allotted Rs 20 crore for a full-length film on the life and works of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule. Incidentally, the National Film Corporation has been assigned this task by the Congress-led government in the state in 2003, but citing delays in the commissioning of the work, the Fadnavis-led General Administration Department has now cancelled this contract and issued administrative approval for a fresh tender in this regard. More than the film, eyebrows are being raised in the corridors of power over the estimate of the work. According to sources, the department was already in the process of shortlisting an agency for the work, when it was forced to grant fresh administrative approval, following certain objections raised by the finance department. Losing Ground Once seen as a favourite of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Principal Secretary Vijay Kumar Gautam (1987 batch) now finds himself sidelined. He has now been transferred four times in one year, and has now been posted as Member Secretary of the state’s human rights commission, which is considered as an inconsequential position in the state bureaucracy. According to sources, Gautam, who was last holding the post of Tourism Secretary, is miffed about his transfer and is yet to assume charge in his new position. Meanwhile, the buzz in the corridors of power is, Tourism Minister Jaikumar Rawal’s office had not been getting along well with Gautam and had been pushing for his ouster. Double Role? While Vinita Vaid Singhal (1997) has been named as the state’s new Tourism Secretary replacing Vijay Kumar Gautam, sources revealed that she will also continue to hold her current charge of Secretary, Women and Child Development (WCD) department, in additional capacity for the time being. While Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has already appointed Dr K H Govindraj (1995) as Singhal’s successor in the WCD department, sources confirmed that the latter was presently on election duty and was slated to return only after December 11. In bureaucratic circles, it is well-known that Singhal enjoys the confidence of WCD Minister Pankaja Munde. Expansion On Hold The much-debated state Cabinet expansion has been pushed back, yet again. With the BJP’s central leadership currently busy with campaigning in the five poll-bound states, a senior Maharashtra BJP minister said any decision regarding the expansion would now take place after the poll results are out on December 11. According to another source, BJP’s ally, the Shiv Sena, too has dropped hints that it wants to watch the poll outcome before deciding its future course of action. But the postponement has peeved ministerial berth aspirants. In a bid to soothe frayed nerves, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had earlier declared that he would expand his Cabinet before the Winter Session, which commences Monday. In Election Mode With Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis asking the bureaucracy to walk the ‘extra mile’ for effective implementation of public welfare schemes at the ground level, Chief Secretary Dinesh Kumar Jain has decided to lead from the front. According to sources, Jain will himself review the status of implementation of the schemes concerning all departments at the district level. To do this, he would hold video-conference meetings with district Collectors and Chief Executive Officers of District Councils twice a month. At a state Cabinet meeting last month, some ministers had raised concerns over the pace of implementation of the schemes. Compiled by Sandeep Ashar For all the latest Mumbai News, download Indian Express App

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