Gujarat Government Announces Bureaucratic Reshuffle

In a major development in Gujarat, the state government recently announced rejig of 8 top bureaucrats in the state, amidst uncertainty over cabinet expansion. The order issued by the state government has transferred as many as four senior IAS officers to Chief Minister's office.

The order issued by the state government, named senior 1989-batch IAS officer Pankaj Joshi to replace Manoj Das as the additional chief secretary (ACS) in the CMO.

Earlier Joshi has held several important positions including in the departments of land, revenue, energy, urban development, and education. In his last posting, he was the additional chief secretary, finance.

The state government has also appointed 2003-batch IAS officer Avantika Singh as the new secretary to chief minister Patel. Singh will replace Ashwini Kumar besides continuing to hold the post of vice-chairperson and CEO of the Gujarat Maritime Board as an additional charge.

On the other hand Joshi will further hold additional charge as the ACS in the finance department. The state government also named M D Modia, who held the post of the collector in Bharuch, as the officer on special duty (OSD) to the chief minister replacing K N Shah. Yogesh Chaudhary, a 2016-batch IAS officer, will hold the additional charge as the collector of Bharuch.

 IAS officer D H Shah, who was posted as OSD to the CM is replaced by IAS officer N N Dave, who was the deputy municipal commissioner of Ahmedabad.