NEW DELHI: With just over three weeks to go for the Union Budget, government on Wednesday moved newly-appointed revenue secretary Arunish Chawla to the department of investment and public asset management (Dipam) and replaced him with finance secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey.
Pandey, a 1987 batch Odisha cadre IAS officer, is the seniormost secretary in the finance ministry and has been at the helm of Dipam for five years and was also the secretary for the department of public enterprises.
Chawla, who had been appointed revenue secretary on December 25, was earlier secretary in the department of pharmaceuticals.
While no reason was given for the sudden changes, officials speculated that the revenue department is a busy portfolio, especially ahead of the Budget, and required close monitoring. In addition to being the revenue secretary, Chawla is the culture secretary, an assignment which has a heavy workload with the Republic Day and the Maha Kumbh just days away.
Being the finance secretary, who coordinates the Budget exercise, Pandey has been working with revenue, expenditure, economic affairs and financial services departments, which are part of the finance ministry.
While bureaucratic changes are quite normal, this year’s reshuffle in the finance ministry is quite unprecedented. It all started in Dec with the surprise appointment of Sanjay Malhotra as RBI governor. The change in one of the core departments of the finance ministry resulted in economic affairs secretary Ajay Seth being given the additional charge of the revenue department as the GST Council was scheduled on Dec 21. It was followed by Chawla’s appointment as revenue secretary for less than two weeks.
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