Senior IAS officer to head home department

Senior IAS officer Dr Amitabh Rajan, 57, will be the new home secretary of Maharashtra.

Senior IAS officer Dr Amitabh Rajan, 57, will be the new home secretary of Maharashtra.

Rajan will take over as additional chief secretary, home, on Thursday. This is the secondmost important administrative post after the chief secretary in the state administration.

He has also worked with chief minister Prithviraj Chavan in the reforms ministry at the Centre, when Chavan was a minister in the Prime Minister's office (PMO) in New Delhi.

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His appointment order, according to sources, was signed on Tuesday afternoon and will see Rajan assuming the post on March 15.

Rajan, a 1979 batch IAS officer, has been on central postings for the past 10 years in Delhi and is currently the additional secretary at the department of revenue, government of India (GOI).

He is due to retire in 2015, which leaves him with 3 years of service — something the government considered an important criterion when he was selected for the post.

He will be taking over from ACS (public health) JK Banthia who is holding additional charge of the home department after the retirement of UC Sarangi in February. Prior to central postings, he has held posts of energy secretary and women and child department commissioner in Maharashtra.