A week after being shunted out of Mantralaya, Medha Gadgil, the state’s seniormost bureaucrat, is set to make a comeback. Sources confirmed that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has agreed to revise the 1983-batch IAS officer’s transfer, and post her as an Additional Chief Secretary in the CM-led General Administration Department. Gadgil is said to have suggested the option herself, and is willing to accept it. On February 11, Fadnavis had transferred Gadgil out of the Relief and Rehabilitation department, posting her as the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the Maharashtra State Financial Corporation, which is seen as an inconsequential posting. Advertising Pacemaker Some eyebrows are being raised in the state’s senior bureaucracy over Kishor Nimbalkar’s appointment as the new secretary of the Relief and Rehabilitation department. Nimbalkar, a 2003-batch IAS officer, was promoted to the secretary rank only in January this year. With the department being at the centre of drought relief and mitigation measures, the post has traditionally been occupied by a much higher-ranked IAS officer. According to sources, the CMO wants to control the pace of the ongoing drought relief and rehabilitation work, hence decided to appoint a junior IAS secretary on the post. Money Matters A Central Vigilance Committee’s report to the Maharashtra government seeking a probe into high-valued transactions carried out by a retired top bureaucrat, K P Bakshi, has rekindled an old story in the state bureaucracy. Tales abound in the corridors of power about how some senior bureaucrats and cops, panicked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s sudden demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, had made a mad dash for exchanging their currency notes at that time. The grapevine is that for some of them, the destination for this conversion was not the banks. In The Fray According to sources, the race for the vacant Maharashtra Public Service Commission chairman’s post is heating up, with several retired bureaucrats and cops in the fray. With the name of outgoing DGP Dattatray Padsalgikar also being linked to the post in the corridors of power, the word is that the Chief Minister would name his choice within a week. Even while sources are now ruling out a major rejig in the senior bureaucracy in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, sources said some transfers are in the offing. Advertising The Ultimatum Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis cancelled his trip to Washim midway on February 14, and returned to Mumbai. Initially, there were reports that he had returned owing to ill health, but when the CM rushed to Uddhav Thackeray’s residence after landing in Mumbai, things took a different turn. Thackeray is said to have sounded an ultimatum to the BJP leadership over alliance talks, which had prompted the CM and Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil, considered close to BJP chief Amit Shah, to rush to Matoshri.

Stay updated with all the Mumbai Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.