Akhil Arora, who spearheaded the preparation of fifth consecutive budgets of Rajasthan, is now the longest serving IAS officer in the finance department with more than 6 years and 8 months divided in two stints spread across 31 years and five months long career.
On the first occasion, Arora, a 1993-batch IAS, served as secretary (budget) in finance department from August 2011 to December 2013 during the second tenure of Ashok Gehlot as the chief minister.
Later, when Gehlot came back for the third time as chief minister, he gave the reins of finance department to Arora in November 2020. Since then he has been serving continuously despite the change of guard. When BJP came back to power in 2023, against all speculations, chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma reposed his faith in Arora, who has been managing the finance well.
During his tenure, the state government never felt financial crunch despite running capital intensive ambitious schemes like RGHS, Free medicine, free smartphone and the likes.
Arora pips Adarsh Kishore
Adarsh Kishore, a 1969-batch IAS, had continually served the finance department from November 1993 to May 1999 – completing five and a half years in office.
Kishore first served in Bhairon Singh Shekhawat government followed by Ashok Gehlot government. He was considered as master of numbers. He later rose to become finance secretary in Government of India.
Former Comptroller of Accounts (CAG) Rajiv Mehrishi features third in the list with a tenure of little more than 3 years.
Like Adarsh Kishore, Rajiv Mehrishi, a 1978-batch IAS, also reached to the coveted post of finance secretary of Government of India after serving as finance secretary in Rajasthan government from January 2005 to April 2008.
Mehrishi later rose to become Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
Akhil Arora, who spent all his time during 32 years of his career in Rajasthan, he wI'll not get a chance to work at centre unlike his other two predecessors.
Ram Kumar Kaushik is a seasoned journalist with over 25 years of experience across mediums. The architect of this news website, he is also a consultant with several media groups. He was formerly the group managing editor of ITV Network (NewsX, India News and The Sunday Guardian) and its digital products.
