Kushal Singh succeeds Samant as top order of bureaucracy is shuffled

The Congress-led Rajasthan government made a politically significant top order bureaucratic reshuffle on Friday by appointing a Jat, IAS officer Kushal Singh, as the new chief secretary.

Singh is the first woman chief secretary of the state. She has replaced DC Samant, who has now been appointed chairman of the Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (RERC).

Even though she is due to retire later this year, the state government has accommodated Singh in the coveted chair superseding three IAS officers. The new secretary is due to retire on October 31.

The IAS officer was serving at Ajmer as chairperson, Board of Revenue (BoR), Rajasthan. Earlier in the day, governor SK Singh cleared Samant's appointment to the RERC where he would have a fixed tenure of five years. Samant was to retire as chief secretary in July this year.

Through a separate order, the government has shifted out Parmesh Chandra, who was next in seniority after Samant, from the post of additional chief secretary (social infrastructure) and made him chairman, Rajasthan State Roadways Transport Corporation (RSRTC). IAS officer Ashish Bahuguna, who till now was holding the posts of principal secretary (transport) as well as chairman, RSRTC, will now head the transport department only.

Rakesh Hooja, another IAS officer senior to Singh, has been transferred from the post of additional chief secretary (development) to replace Singh as chairman, BoR, Rajasthan. Though Singh is Rajasthan cadre IAS officer of the 1974 batch like Hooja and Abhimanyu Singh, the latter two are senior to her along with Chandra who belongs to the 1973 batch. Abhimanyu is currently serving with the UNESCO. The new chief secretary is a native of Rohtak, Haryana and was born on October 11, 1949. During her tenure as IAS officer in the Rajasthan cadre, Singh has served as principal secretary (social welfare and social security), chairman (Rajasthan Pollution Control Board), secretary (environment, forest, panchayati raj), chairman and managing director (Rajasthan Finance Corporation), secretary (art and culture) and collector, Kota.

DNA Correspondent/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication