Bhopal: Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, who took charge of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Madhya Pradesh two months ago, has made major changes in the state bureaucracy with 15 IAS officers transferred on Sunday night, of which five have been appointed to the CM’s secretariat.
The reshuffle of 15 IAS officers Sunday comes a week after 18 IAS officers were transferred by the Yadav government.
The latest transfer order issued late Sunday has brought 2008 batch officer Bharat Yadav as the secretary to the CM. Before his appointment, Sandeep Yadav, a 2000 batch officer, was appointed as commissioner of public relations, while Sameer Yadav, a 2002 batch state service police officer, was made in-charge of the CM’s security in December.
The CM on Sunday roped in Avanish Lavania, a 2009 batch officer and managing director of MP Road Development Corporation, as his additional secretary.
Chandrashekhar Walimbe, a 2010 batch officer, has been elevated as another additional secretary to the CM. He was holding charge of additional secretary revenue and controller of government printing and stationery.
Aditi Garg, a 2015 batch officer, and Anshul Gupta, a 2016 batch officer, have been made deputy secretaries in the CM’s secretariat. Garg was the director of health services, while Gupta has previously served as the commissioner of Ujjain Municipal Corporation.
The changes come after Yadav picked Raghvendra Kumar Singh, a 1997 batch officer who is considered a pro-industries bureaucrat, as his principal secretary. Singh is also the principal secretary for the department of industrial policy and investment promotion. He replaced Manish Rastogi, a 1994-batch officer who held the same post under former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
According to those in the know of the development, the list issued Sunday night is seen as Singh playing a crucial role in appointing the CM’s secretariat with a thrust on creating employment through promoting industrial development in the state.
A senior bureaucrat told ThePrint that at least four of the five officers in the CM’s secretariat have backgrounds in Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).
Lavania has done his B.Tech and M.Tech from IIT Delhi. After entering the civil services, he went on to become a gold medalist in LABSNAA, the administrative academy. He is also a recipient of Digital India Award and CM Excellence Award for Public Service Delivery. Similarly, Walimbe has a B.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Kharagpur.
Gupta had done his B.Tech and M.Tech in electrical engineering from IIT Kanpur, followed by an MBA from IIM Bangalore.
What further added to Gupta being picked up for the role in CM’s secretariat is his experience working in L&T, Wipro Consulting and Goldman Sachs before joining the civil services. While Garg, a BA in economics from St Xavier’s in Mumbai, went on to do her Master’s from London School of Economics on a Commonwealth Scholarship.
Meanwhile, Navneet Kothari, who was the managing director (MD) of MP Industrial Development Corporation Limited, MD of MP State Industrial Development Corporation Limited and ex-officio secretary Industrial Policy and Investment Promotion department, was shunted out as secretary of the fisheries welfare department Sunday. According to those in the know, he was moved to fisheries after complaints from industries.
An important development in Sunday’s order was the appointment of Rastogi, who was given additional charge of principal secretary of the General Administration Department (GAD) and, more importantly, as the principal secretary coordination in the chief secretary’s office.
Rastogi had earlier served as principal secretary to Chouhan. He was left without a post for 43 days and subsequently made principal secretary of the jail department on 28 January.
With the government still busy rejigging the bureaucracy, several officers are being saddled with additional charges.
An officer requesting anonymity said, “Officers are being given additional charges with no clarity if the department would remain with them. This is leading to files of departments with additional charges being put on the back burner until full-fledged appointments are done.”
Another officer explained: “Either one should be clearly told that they would continue in a said department or the transfers should be made sooner, and not leave the governance in limbo.”
However, a senior BJP leader explained that this is not new and “every chief minister wants to pick up their own officers in the system.”
“Since Shivrajji has ruled the state for more than 17 years, a whole lot of officers are his men. Now the new CM has to establish his set-up and he doesn’t want to make any mistakes, which is causing delays in appointments,” he told ThePrint.
After IAS officers, the state is gearing up for a reshuffle of IPS officers with CM Yadav holding a meeting with DGP Sudheer Saxena Friday. District collectors are likely to be transferred after 8 February, according to senior government officials.
Also Read: 9 collectors, 3 SPs & more shunted out in one month — how MP CM Mohan Yadav is building tough image
18 officers transferred earlier
Of the 18 officers transferred earlier, Yadav moved Neeraj Vashishtha, a senior IAS officer, out of the chief minister’s secretariat and made him a deputy secretary in the government.
Another department that saw major changes was the public relations department. The CM replaced its commissioner Manish Singh and director Ashutosh Pratap Singh.
According to sources, officers who have worked with Yadav before are being given important postings.
Citing an example, they said that a 2015 batch IAS officer Roshan Kumar Singh, who served as the municipal commissioner of Ujjain and subsequently was made the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Smart City in Bhopal, has now been posted as the director at the department of public relation, replacing Ashutosh Pratap Singh.
The transfers also affected other key departments such as industries, women and child development, public works, and general administration.
Sanjay Kumar Shukla, who had the additional charge of principal secretary of industries, was transferred as the principal secretary to the governor. Ramrao Bhonsle, who was the commissioner of women and child development and oversaw the Ladli Behna Yojana, was moved to the commissioner of the social justice department.
Similarly, Sukhveer Singh, who was the principal secretary of the Public Works Department (PWD), was moved to horticulture.
Within a fortnight of becoming the CM, Yadav, on 2 January, moved Kumar Purshottam, who was the collector of Ujjain when Yadav was an MLA from the district and a minister for higher education, to deputy secretary of the General Administration Department (GAD). By January-end, Purshottam was made deputy secretary of the backward caste welfare department.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)