Ajoy Mehta takes charge as Maharashtra chief secretary

The former Mumbai civic body chief’s appointment to the post comes at the time, when the state is reeling under drought, tackling which will be his major challenge

After serving as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) chief, senior IAS officer Ajoy Mehta took charge as the new chief secretary of Maharashtra on Monday, ending incumbent chief secretary UPS Madan’s 45-day stint.

Ajoy Mehta (left) taking charges as Maharashtra Cheif Secretary in the presence of former Chief Secretary UPS Madan at Mantralaya in Mumbai, on Monday, May 13, 2019. (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

Mehta’s appointment to the post of chief secretary comes at the time, when the state is reeling under drought, tackling which will be his major challenge. On the first day in office, he attended the chief minister’s review meetings of drought-hit areas of Satara, Sangli, Amravati, Chandrapur and Yavatmal.

“The day was busy, that of course is there,” Mehta said. “Being in the government for 30-35 years, you have seen a lot of regimes. But fundamentally, you need to see what the priorities are, and the issues that need to be engaged with, both on a shortterm and long-term basis,” he said.

The 1984-batch officer was Ahmednagar collector when the district was facing severe drought in 1995. Mehta has completed his BTech in Civil Engineering from the Banaras Hindu University. He later completed his MBA from United Kingdom (UK) and has studied law from the Mumbai University.

Mehta has worked as the secretary to then deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde during the Shiv Sena-BJP regime in the state in 1995-99. Later, he joined Pramod Mahajan as an officer on special duty (OSD), when the latter was the Union minister of communications and information technology. He worked with NCP chief Sharad Pawar as his private secretary, when the latter was the Union agriculture minister in 2004.

Mehta has worked in the power sector for around a decade from 2005-2015 and played a significant role in restructuring of the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB). He was the managing director (MD) of the Maharashtra State Power Generation Company (Mahagenco) from June 2005 to February 2009 and managing director of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (Mahadiscom) from February 2009 to January 2015. He was also the environment secretary in the state government.