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Ajoy Kumar Mehta, the Municipal Commissioner of Mumbai has been appointed as the Maharashtra Chief Secretary. The decision was taken by the state government after the former Chief Secretary of the state UPS Madan sought for Voluntary Retirement Service.

Praveen Pardeshi, the additional chief secretary to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has been appointed as the Mumbai Municipal Commissioner, who will take over the post from Mehta.

1984-Batch officer Mehta’s term as the Maharashtra Chief Secretary would end in September 2019. However, his term may get extended. He had taken the charge of the richest Municipal Commission of India in 2015.

Mehta was a speaker in the Elets eIndia Summit 2015. The then Municipal Commissioner in his address had touched upon themes like transportation, employment and sanitation.

He said, “We decided to take three larger issues in Mumbai, issues which impact a large population and specially the weaker sections. For instance, buses carry a major portion of Mumbai, which is a part of the first category. Can you have a passenger information system? We are running buses, but can we tell the people waiting at the bus stop how soon your bus is coming? If this is done, people’s lives will become easy.”

Mehta also added, “The second category involves keeping the pre-eminence of Mumbai established. We are the business city of this country and the engine of growth of this country. We are the employment generators and we generate it well for the country. Thirdly, environment is an issue which we said we must take up. Today, we put 50 percent of our sewage into the sea untreated. Can we treat it? You make the oceans and sea more cleaner because the sea is actually an asset for Mumbai and also that much water comes back into the city to be reused. This is the larger vision that we have for Mumbai.”

During his previous tenure, he oversaw the long-winding process to draft the Mumbai development plan 2034, the changes made to it, and its final adoption.

Earlier, he has also served the role of Principal Secretary, Department of Energy, Government of Maharashtra.

Madan was appointed as the Chief Secretary last month, who took over the charge from DK Jain, who was appointed as the judicial member of Lokpal.

The bureaucratic reshuffle took place after the approval of Election Commission of India since the Model Code of Conduct is in force.

As per media reports, the three names sent for ECI’s approval include Additional Chief Secretary (Housing) Sanjay Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary (Industries) Satish Gavai and Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta. All the three officers are of the 1984 batch of the Indian Administrative Services.

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