Ups and downs

Most departments are in status quo mode till the elections are over but not the Finance Ministry where a lot of changes are taking place. Nobody was expecting any changes at the Secretary level till the new Lok Sabha. The term of Sumit Bose, Revenue Secretary, was likely to be extended but suddenly Rajiv Takru, a 1979-batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre, was brought in as the new Secretary from the Department of Financial Services. Taking Takru’s place is Gurdial Singh Sandhu, a 1980-batch IAS officer from Rajasthan, whom nobody seems to know much about. It is learnt that Chief Minister of Rajasthan VasundharaRaje was not happy with Sandhu and he was languishing in a very insignificant post, though he did hold the position of CMD of Jaipur Metro Rail Corporation. Between 2003 and 2008, Sandhu was on Central deputation, serving as Joint Secretary in the Department of Chemicals and Petro-chemicals. The North Block grapevine had suggested that Rajan S Katoch, Enforcement Director and a 1979-batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer, would be the new Revenue Secretary. But we learnt that the government did not want to shift Katoch when the Congress is fighting a tough battle as he is handling the sensitive files of some political stalwarts. There is another move now in the Finance Ministry to appoint a full-fledged Finance Secretary. The post is vacant since November 2013. The Secretary, Economic Affairs, ArvindMayaram, a 1978-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, is said to be the front-runner for the coveted post. If he is appointed, he will have a fixed tenure of two years.