In a major bureaucratic shake-up, the State appointed current civic chief, Ajoy Mehta, as the new chief secretary of Maharashtra. Mehta, of IAS' 1984 batch, takes over from UPS Madan, who took voluntary retirement. Praveen Pardeshi, an IAS officer of 1985 batch, will be the new commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). He currently serves as the additional chief secretary in the Chief Minister's office.
Mehta completed four years as BMC chief in April and is scheduled to retire in September. However, he may get an extension as the state Assembly election is slated for October-November. Pardeshi is due to retire by the end of 2021.
Madan, who had taken over as Chief Secretary in March, is now Special Advisor to the Chief Minister.
He is likely to succeed JS Saharia as the state chief election commissioner.
The government issued a notification on the reshuffle after seeking Election Commission's approval as Model Code of Conduct is in force.
Mehta's appointment comes at a time when the government is struggling to tackle a drought in 151 tehsils covering 28,524 villages. In his tenure as Ahmednagar's district collector between 1992 and 1995, Mehta had implemented several drought relief works on war-footing. His expertise in disaster management may also have been a consideration in the elevation to chief secretary.
He had also carried out reforms in the power sector during his tenure as managing director of MahaGenco (2005-2009) and managing director of MahaVitaran(2009-15). He is credited with the introduction of a standard bidding system in these two undertakings and subsequently in BMC to bring transparency into the tendering process.
His tenure as civic chief was marked by the notorious road development scam, the fire at Kamala Mills and the collapse of the Himalaya foot overbridge. He is credited with the finalisation of the city's Development Plan 2034, the launch of the Coastal Road project, Mumbai Sewage Disposal project and implementation of Online Clearance System.
Pardeshi, as Latur's collector in 1993, played a major role in the rehabilitation of those affected by the earthquake. Pardeshi was chosen by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as principal secretary after he took the charge on October 31, 2014. He is known as a super bureaucrat in the present establishment, and has previously worked with departments and government bodies that pertain to forests, environment, finance, urban development and revenue sectors.
He has made a sizeable contribution to the planning and implementation of a slew of transport infrastructure projects, amounting to Rs 1.60 lakh crore, in the city and its satellite townships. He was also part of the organising teams for Make In India and Make In Maharashtra summits which together attracted investment proposals of over Rs 20 lakh crore.
Pardeshi has engaged in the formulation of policies influencing sectors such as retail, industrial lands to backward classes, ease of doing business, electronic policy and single window clearance.
