<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[<p>There has been a change of guard at one of the most coveted bureaucratic posts. S. Sundareshan was replaced as petroleum secretary by Girish Chandra Chaturvedi. For the first time in 13 years, a petroleum secretary has been transferred; the last was T.S. Vijayaraghavan in 1998. Since then all officers at this post have retired rather than moving to another ministry.<br><br>The move comes at a time when the petroleum ministry, and more particularly Sundareshan, was dealing with several critical issues: the $9.6-billion Cairn-Vedanta deal is awaiting clearance, as is BP's acquisition of 30 per cent stake in Reliance Industries' (RIL) 23 oil and gas blocks. Then there is the impasse between the oil and gas regulator and RIL over production at the Krishna-Godavari basin's D6 well. Sundareshan, some officials believe, was one of the biggest hurdles in the clearance of the Cairn-Vedanta deal.<br><br>Sundareshan's transfer was talked of since S. Jaipal Reddy replaced Murli Deora as the petroleum minister. The 1976-batch Kerala cadre officer had joined the ministry in 2007 as an additional secretary, and became secretary in January last year. He now moves to the heavy industries ministry.<br><br>Chaturvedi, a 1977 batch officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, was special secretary at the finance ministry and took charge as special director-general of the Commonwealth Games in July last year when the preparations were threatening to fall apart. The new posting is being seen as a reward.<br><br><br>(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 16-05-2011)</p>