Maha Chief Secretary: Who is Ratnakar Gaikwad?

IN A surprise move, 1975 batch IAS Ratnakar Gaikwad has been appointed as Maharashtra chief secretary replacing JP Dange who was to retire only on May this year. Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan’s move to bring in Gaikwad as chief secretary is seen as a strategy to reorient the state bureaucracy in the midst of Adarsh-prompted credibility crisis of top administrators. According to reports, incumbent Dange could be appointed as information commissioner in the state.

Hailing from Maharashtra, Ratnakar Gaikwad opted for Maharashtra cadre and rose in the ladder to become Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) commissioner before taking up the chief secretary’s job. Unlike many of his peers who prefer to go on Central government deputation, Gaikwad mostly served within the state in his 35 years long career as a bureaucrat.

A post-graduate in geography and a PG diploma holder from the University of Manchester, Gaikwad took up some of the important assignments relating to transport and urban development. He had also served as the municipal commissioner in Pune.

Some of Gaikwad’s high profile batch-mates include telecom secretary Rentala Chandrasekhar, urban development secretary Navin Kumar, commerce secretary Rahul Khullar and his wife sports secretary Sindhushree Khullar, animal husbandry secretary Rudhra Gangadharan, food processing secretary Ashok Sinha, school education secretary Anshu Vaish, department of Public Enterprises secretary Bhaskar Chatterjee, textile secretary Rita Menon and revenue secretary Sunil Mitra.

While talking to a section of media after the announcement, chief secretary Gaikwad said he would ensure better coordination between the BMC and MMRDA to minimize overlapping of work. What’s more, he said he would form a Think Tank to draw up long term plans for Maharashtra. Think you Gaikwad!

Rs 1.5 crore tax liability against suspended IAS

The Income Tax department has slapped a tax liability of whopping Rs 1.5 crore against suspended Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer Rajesh Rajora after assessing his total taxable income at Rs 5.21 crore. The I-T department raided the residences of Rajora and some other officials of the MP health department in May 2008.