The 1986-batch IAS officer Sanjeev Kaushal was elevated by the Haryana Government as State’s Chief Secretary on Tuesday, becoming the third person from his family to assume the charge of top post.
Kaushal’s father-in-law BS Ojha was the Haryana Chief Secretary in the early nineties while his elder brother Sarvesh Kaushal has served as the Punjab Chief Secretary. Kaushal was the senior-most officer and front-runner for the top post in the State and will succeed Vijai Vardhan, who retired on Thursday.
A State Government’s order stated, “Sanjeev Kaushal has been posted as Chief Secretary to Government, Haryana, General Administration, Personnel, Training, Parliamentary Affairs, Vigilance, Administrative Reforms Departments and Secretary incharge of Plan Coordination.”
PK Das, who was also in the race for the top post, has been posted as Additional Chief Secretary to Government, Haryana and Financial Commissioner, Revenue & Disaster Management and Consolidation Departments.
Kaushal, who had been the Principal Secretary to Chief Minister when the BJP formed the government under Manohar Lal Khattar in 2014, has sufficient service left with his retirement due on July 31, 2024.
Kaushal has been instrumental in executing two pet projects of the Chief Minister during his tenure as the Financial Commissioner Revenue (FCR). These included the modernisation of the age-old revenue record rooms and an ambitious project to make Haryana “lal dora” free. As Additional Chief Secretary, Kaushal has handled the Departments of Finance & Planning, Excise and Taxation, Agriculture, Cooperation, Revenue & Disaster Management.
During his vast experience, he had worked with Centre as Joint Secretary, two State Governments, two large PSUs as Managing Director, and also the largest Municipal Corporation of Haryana (as the Chief Administrator of Faridabad Complex with the responsibilities of the Mayor and Commissioner both).
Kushal had served as Assistant Collector (Training), Madurai (Tamil Nadu), a sub-collector, Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) 1988-90, Additional Deputy Commissioner Faridabad in 1990-91. He had also served as Managing Director, Haryana Warehousing Corporation, Chandigarh (1993-94), Joint Secretary to Government of Haryana, Cooperation, Health & Medical Education, Wildlife Preservation & Rules Departments (1996-99).
He is a gold medallist in B.Sc (non-medical) from Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar, a gold medallist in B.Sc (Honours in Mathematics) from GNDU and has also done Masters in Public administration and economics.
Earlier, Vijai Vardhan superannuated from the post of Chief Secretary. Apart from this, Alok Nigam also superannuated from the post of Additional Chief Secretary, Public Works (Building and Roads) and Mines and Geology Department.
In the evening, Haryana IAS Association bid a warm farewell to Vardhan and Nigam. Chief Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, D.S. Dhesi, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Dr. Amit Agrawal, Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, Directors of various Departments and many other senior administrative officers were present during the farewell.
Appreciating the work performed by Vardhan, at the superannuation ceremony, the newly appointed Chief Secretary, Sanjeev Kaushal described him as an excellent officer. Kaushal also shared his personal experiences of bond of brotherhood with Vijai Vardhan besides being Administrative Officer.
