Madhya Pradesh CM exercises first major rejig in 4th term, 50 IAS officers get new postings

Of the top officials, former chief secretary M Gopal Reddy has been posted as chairman of the Revenue Board, Gwalior.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan carried out the first major bureaucratic reshuffle in his fourth term as the CM on Saturday night affecting as many as 50 IAS officers, as per the state government’s order.

File photo: Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. (ANI)

Of the top officials, former chief secretary M Gopal Reddy has been posted as chairman of the Revenue Board, Gwalior.

A 1985 batch IAS officer, Reddy was appointed the chief secretary by then chief minister Kamal Nath but incumbent chief minister Chouhan replaced Reddy with Iqbal Singh Bains barely a week after he was appointed the chief secretary.

A 1989 batch IAS officer and additional chief secretary (ACS), Anurag Jain continues to remain as the additional chief secretary (Finance) and gets the additional charge of the Planning, Economics and Statistics department.

Another 1989 batch IAS officer, ACS Mohd Suleman who was brought in to head Health and Family Welfare department to control Covid situation on April 8, will also look after Medical Education and Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation departments.

Another ACS Vinod Kumar (1989 batch) is the head of the General Administration Department (GAD) now. Additional chief secretary JN Kansotia (1989) will look after Animal Husbandry department while principal secretary Dr Rajesh Kumar Rajora (1990), who used to look after the industries department, will head the labour department immediately after the state government’s major labour reforms.

Malay Shrivastava (1990) is the new head of Public Health Engineering (PHE) department as a principal secretary while Pankaj Rag (1990) has been posted as the principal secretary of Parliamentary Affairs, Sports and Youth Welfare. Ashok Shah (1990) will now head the Woman and Child Development department as a principal secretary. Principal secretary Manoj Govil (1991) has been moved from finance to the commercial tax department.

Principal secretary Manu Shrivastava (1991), who used to head the Energy and Renewable Energy department has been posted as a member of the Revenue Board, Gwalior.

Principal secretary Kalpana Shrivastava (1992) who was commissioner of Bhopal division for more than a year will now head Horticulture and Food Processing department.

Another principal secretary Sanjay Dubey (1993) who headed Urban Development and Administration and also Madhya Pradesh Metro Rail Company Ltd will now head the Energy and Renewable Energy department. Another 1993 batch IAS officer principal secretary Neeraj Mandloi will now head Public Works Department (PWD).

Another 1993 batch IAS officer and principal secretary Anupam Rajan, who was previously heading the Woman and Child Development (WCD) department, will now head the higher education department.

However, Rajan has been given an additional charge of principal secretary, Department of Public Relations too, a crucial position in the government as far as image building of the chief minister is concerned amid the Covid-19 situation. Rajan has served as the commissioner of Public Relations during Chouhan’s previous tenure.

A 1994 IAS officer Sanjay Kumar Shukla, who headed Public Health Engineering, Medical Education departments and Jal Nigam, is the new principal secretary of Industrial Policy and Investment Promotion Department amid the state government’s thrust on resuming economic activities and creating more job opportunities for the youth in the state.

Principal secretary Public Health and Family Welfare Dr Pallavi Jain Govil (1994) who was in the eye of a controversy after more than 100 health department personnel were infected with coronavirus. She will now head tribal welfare and scheduled castes welfare departments. Another 1994 IAS officer and principal secretary Deepali Rastogi - who was in charge officer for coordination with Maharashtra for bringing back labourers from there when 16 labourers were killed in a mishap in Aurangabad district on Friday morning - will head Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) department.

Principal secretary Shivshekhar Shkula (1994) will continue to head Food and Civil Supply but has the culture department too in addition. Another principal secretary Prateek Hajela (1995), who was moved from the post of commissioner (health services) immediately after a review meeting on the Covid-19 situation will now serve as principal secretary Social Justice.

Other officers include DP Ahuja (1996), Nitesh Kumar Vyas (1996), Faiz Ahmad Kidwai (1996), Amit Rathore (1996), Caralyn Khaongwar Deshmukh (1996) and Sukhvir Singh (1997).