Exclusive / Gujarat awaits new CS as Anil Mukim to retire on 31st August; third extension unlikely : Sources

It may be noted that Anil Mukim’s second extension as the Chief Secretary is expiring at the end of this month. Mukim is the first Chief Secretary of the state who has been given two extensions of six months each. He took over as the Chief Secretary from JN Singh from November 30th, 2019 and was scheduled to superannuate in August 2020.

However, he was given first extension for six months till February 2021 and subsequently another six months extension was granted in February to enable him to helm the top job till end of August 2021.

Now, it remains to be seen whether he gets another extension to continue as Chief Secretary or the government appoints a new CS from 1986 batch.

Accordingly, two front runners from the 1986 batch are: Pankaj Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary of the Home department, who is the senior most in the batch.

Another contender is Dr Rajiv Kumar Gupta, also belonging to the 1986 batch and currently posted as Additional Chief Secretary (Industries and mines) and holding additional charge of MD, Sardar Sarovar project and also statue of unity project.

According to insiders, the PMO will take a call regarding who will be the next Chief Secretary of the state. Also if Mukim’s term is not extended further in Gujarat, he will likely get some powerful position in the centre.

“Nobody knows whether there will be new CS from the state or this time also, someone from Delhi will be deputed to helm the state bureaucracy,” a source in the government told VTV Gujarati.