The Maharashtra government on Wednesday appointed senior IAS officer Bhushan Gagrani as the new Mumbai municipal commissioner after directions from the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Gagrani, till now serving as additional chief secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), will replace Iqbal Singh Chahal, who has been moved out from the post of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner on EC orders, PTI reported.
The poll panel, in an order to the chief secretary, also asked the state government to appoint senior bureaucrats Saurabh Rao and Kailash Shinde as the new civic commissioners of adjoining Thane and Navi Mumbai, respectively.
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The commission directed that the three officers shall not hold any additional charge outside their respective corporation, PTI reported.
Soon after announcing the Lok Sabha poll schedule on March 16, the EC had ordered the transfer of Chahal, who was also serving as the BMC administrator. Conveying displeasure for not transferring the Municipal Commissioner and additional municipal commissioners of BMC despite two letters, ECI had on Monday asked Maharashtra’s Chief Secretary to immediately transfer Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal from his present post and “all Additional Municipal Commissioners, Deputy Municipal Commissioners who have served more than 3 years in the present posting and are posted in their home district in the state of Maharashtra”.
Ganesh Deshmukh, municipal commissioner of Panvel municipal corporation and Vidya Gaikwad of Jalgaon municipal corporation were also transferred on Tuesday.
The state government has also transferred Additional Municipal Commissioners of BMC, Ashwini Bhide and P Velarasu.
Maharashtra, which has 48 Lok Sabha seats, will vote in five phases in April-May.
(With inputs from PTI)