Minutes after Capt Amarinder Singh took oath as the Chief Minister, Punjab witnessed a major administrative shake-up on Thursday.
With the new Government in place, senior IAS officer Karan Avtar Singh has been appointed the Chief Secretary, besides reshuffle of 11 other top officers. Along with this, Karan Avtar was also given the charge of Principal Secretary of the Departments of Personnel, General Administration and Vigilance, and Investment Promotion.
Capt Amarinder has also appointed Supreme Court lawyer and senior advocate Atul Nanda as Punjab Advocate General in place of Ashok Aggarwal, who had already resigned.
Karan Avtar took over the charge immediately after the oath taking ceremony, replacing Sarvesh Kaushal, who has not been appointed as the Special Chief Secretary-sum-Director General of Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Public Administration.
1982-batch’s IAS officer Kaushal’s replacement was among the first things on the Congress Government’s mind.
Himmat Singh, who is the senior-most IAS officer of Punjab cadre, and a long-time faithful of Capt Amarinder, has been given the charge of Special Chief Secretary Horticulture Department, in addition to the charge of Special Principal Secretary (Forests and Wildlife).
Karanbir Singh Sidhu has been posted as Special Chief Secretary (Revenue and Rehabilitation) in addition to the charge of Special Chief Secretary, Irrigation.
Nirmaljeet Singh Kalsi has been posted as Additional Chief Secretary (Home Affairs and Justice) along with the charge of Additional Chief Secretary (Agriculture), Additional Chief Secretary (Removal of Grievances), Principal Resident Commissioner (Investment Promotion and Industrial liaison) Punjab Bhawan, New Delhi and Additional Chief Secretary (Governance Reforms).
While Anurag Aggarwal has been appointed Financial Commissioner of Taxation, Vivek Pratap Singh has been given the charge of Excise and Taxation Commissioner.
Satish Chandra, though relieved of the Taxation charge, will continue to serve as the Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, as the Budget exercise is going on and the government might not change him at this juncture.
SK Sandhu, who was the Principal Secretary to former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, will now go to the Social Security Department as Additional Chief Secretary. To replace him, a young IAS officer Tejvir Singh will be the new Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister.
Currently on central deputation, Tejveer has also been given the charge of Secretary Information and Public Relations, and Civil Aviation.
Raji P Srivastava has been shifted to MGSIPA, while Expenditure Secretary Krishan Kumar has been given the additional charge of Personnel Secretary.
ATUl NANDA IS AG
Atul Nanda, a Supreme Court lawyer and senior advocate, was appointed as Punjab Advocate-General on Thursday replacing senior advocate Ashok Aggarwal, who had already put in his papers almost six years after he was appointed by the previous SAD-BJP Government. Punjab’s new top law officer Nanda is a prominent lawyer, and has even appeared for the Supreme Court in its cases.