On the day budget session started in Rajasthan assembly, the state government transferred two IAS officers – Ravi Kumar Surpur and Tikam Chand Bohra from finance department. Surpur was serving as secretary finance (revenue) while Bohra was handling the portfolio of special secretary finance (expenditure-I).
Surpur and Bohra are among 53 IAS transferred after long wait.
Kumar Pal Gautam, who was serving as Commissoner and ex-officio secretary local bodies has replaced Surpur who has been sent to Bikaner as divisional commissioner. Gautam has been given key portfolio in finance department at crucial time.
Sharad Mehra, who was awaiting posting order after dissolution of Neem ka Thana district where he was serving as collector, has returned to his parent department finance replacing Tikam Chand Bohra, who has been transferred as managing director RajFed. Mehra is basically an accounts service officer, promoted to IAS through special selection. The government will present budget on February 19, 2025.
Inderjeet Singh, who was performing remarkably well and had just fructified investment of investment of Rs 1600 crore from 8 MoUs signed during Rising Rajasthan, has been transferred to Local Bodies as director and ex-officio special secretary. He had served well as managing director RIICO and his transfer comes as a surprise during the crucial time of implementation of Rising Rajasthan MOUs.
Shivangi Swarnkar, who was awating posting order has replaced Inderjeet Singh as managing director RIICO. She has her task cut out to implement MOUs related to RIICO which value more than Rs 1.5 lakh crore.
Ashutosh AT Pednekar, who was serving as secretary rural development and state mission director Aajeevika, has been transferred as secretary tribal area development. He has been given additional charge of secretary, planning and statistics department.
KK Pathak, who is serving as secretary, department of personnel, has been given additional charge of secretary devasthan department. Pathak is among few officers who most of the times are endowed with additional charges.
No officer in principal secretary and ACS rank transferred
As expected, the state government didn't change officers on top. No officer in the rank of principal secretary or additional chief secretary was transferred. The state government kept the heads intact. Akhil Arora, additional chief secretary is set to prepare his fifth budget – only next to former IAS Adarsh Kishore Saxena who headed the state's finance department for around five and half years.
All officers under APO got posting except Hanuman Mal Dhaka
All IAS officers including Rajendra Vijay who was under scanner after anti corruption bureau (ACB) raid has been given posting. However, Hanuman Mal Dhaka, who fell in the net of ACB demanding money for land conversion while serving as collector of now defunct Dudu, is still under APO. The district collectors of six districts, now defunct, have also been given postings. Rajendra Singh Shekhawat (Shahpura) has been made divisional commissioner Kota, Shakti Singh Rathore (Sanchore) has been appointed as commissioner tbal area development while Avdhesh Meena has been made district collector Salumbar.
Shweta Chauhan (Kekri) and Gaurav Saini (Gangapurcity) have been made director Swacch Bharat Mission and commissioner skills, jobs and entrepreneurship.
Similarly 10 young IAS officers – Yaksh Chaudhary, Preetam Kumar, Yasharth Shekhar, Anshu Priya, Saksham Goel, Divyansh Singh, Shraddha Gome, Mohit Kasniya, Bhaisare Shubham Ashok and Sonika Kumari – have been given their SDM term at various sub divisions.
Shrestha Sree, who recently joined Rajasthan cadre from Tripura cadre through inter cadre transfer after getting married to IAS Mridul Singh, has also been given posting as SDM Kumher.
Three collectors changed
The chief secretary decided to give more time to district collectors. Tonk collector Saumya Jha, who came under scrutiny after Naresh Meena slap incidence followed by disturbances during bypolls in Deoli-Uniara, continues to hold her position.
However, Arvind Poswal, who had been serving as Udaipur collector since July 2023 passing through the Gehlot regime, has been transferred to chief minister officer as joint secretary. He has been replaced by Namit Mehta, who while serving as collector Bhilwara has done remarkable job in controlling couple of violent incidences.
Jasmeet Singh Sandhu, who was serving as collector Salumbar, has been given a bigger district of Bhilwara.
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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.
