Nitin Kareer takes over as new chief secy, woman IAS officer superseded again

Kareer did his graduation from B J Medical College in Pune and his Masters in finance. An IAS officer of the 1988 batch, he was collector of Sangli and was given the Satyen Mitra award for the best adult literacy programme in the country in 1998. He has also worked as inspector-general of stamps and registration and got awards for innovations

MUMBAI: Nitin Kareer, additional chief secretary (finance), on Sunday took over as the new chief secretary of the state after the Centre refused an extension to the outgoing chief secretary Manoj Saunik. Incidentally, this is the fourth time that a woman IAS officer has been superseded and lost her chance to become chief secretary.

Nitin Kareer takes over as new chief secy, woman IAS officer superseded again

Saunik’s wife, Sujata, who is additional chief secretary (finance) was bypassed for the chief secretary’s post again this time. The last time around, she was superseded by her own husband. Manoj Saunik, an IAS officer of the 1987 batch, took over from Manu Kumar Srivastava on April 29. He and his wife Sujata, who is senior to him, were both in the race, but Manoj Saunik got the post. He headed the public works department for more than five years.

This time, Sujata has been given the go-by in favour of Kareer. Sources in the bureaucracy said that Kareer’s candidature was backed by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar. Sujata did not attend the function.

Many women IAS officers are upset by Sujata’s supersession yet again. In the past, Chandra Iyengar, Chitkala Zutshi and Medha Gadgil too have been superseded, and there have been protests by women IAS officers at the alleged discrimination.

Kareer did his graduation from B J Medical College in Pune and his Masters in finance. An IAS officer of the 1988 batch, he was collector of Sangli and was given the Satyen Mitra award for the best adult literacy programme in the country in 1998. He has also worked as inspector-general of stamps and registration and got awards for innovations.

Kareer got the national e-governance first prize for full computerisation of land transactions in the registration department in 2002. The state-level first prize for e-governance initiatives in the sales tax department in 2013 when he was heading sales tax was another honour. He also received international recognition for an automated building plan approval system developed at the Pune Municipal Corporation.

Kareer’s focus has been on building systems for better service delivery with minimum interface leading to fewer chances of harassment of the public. He has also worked towards proper implementation of social sector schemes for the empowerment of people in all departments.

At the policy level, in the urban development department Kareer took pains to rejuvenate spatial planning, prepare coordinated and flexible plans, delegate and decentralise, identify growth corridors and develop them, as well as establish policies and principles for proper urban planning with an emphasis on people, mobility and services. As head of the revenue department, he took steps towards fully online registration, faster and accurate land measurement and towards creating dynamic linkages between registration, land measurement and land records to move towards a land title system.

Addressing all IAS officers at the function, outgoing chief secretary Manoj Saunik thanked them for their support. As he signed the papers, he said, “This is the last time I am signing as a government servant. Now I am a free person.”