Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath names new Chief Secretary

Superseding 13 senior IAS officers, Dr Anoop Chandra Pandey has been named as the next Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh. He will replace incumbent Rajive Kumar who is retiring on June 30.

Pandey will take over as the next UP Chief Secretary on July 2. The 1984 batch IAS officer is currently the Additional Chief Secretary Industrial Development Commissioner (IDC), and had played an important role in the organisation of UP Investors' Summit. Earlier, his role as Principal Secretary Finance was lauded in arranging budget for Rs 33,000 crore farmers' loan waver.

Significantly, for the first time in the last 15 months, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was given a free hand in the selection of Chief Secretary after his meeting with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in New Delhi two days ago.

Dr Pandey, who is considered to be close to CM Yogi Adityanath, will face the challenges of orginising Kumbh Mela 2019 as well as the peaceful conduct of Lok Sabha election before he retires in August 2019.

He was named the next Chief Secretary superseding 13 senior IAS of the 1983 batch. Dr Pandey is due to retire in August 2019. Organization of Kumbh Mela 2019 and peaceful conduct of Lok Sabha polls are going to be his major challenges.