Today, a 1987-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Vini Mahajan, was appointed the Chief Secretary of Punjab, in place of Karan Avtar Singh. Interestingly, Karan Avtar Singh has not yet retired.

His retirement is in September 2020. Singh has been appointed Special Chief Secretary, Governance Reforms and Public Grievances. Notionally, it is a promotion but those familiar with statecraft and Indian and Panjab’s bureaucracy, know what it means to sometimes being moved upstairs.

The move to appoint Vini Mahajan was necessitated by Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh in view of a literal protest by his cabinet colleagues.

The issue goes back to a meeting early May between Captain’s cabinet and the then Chief Secretary Singh to discuss amendments to the 2020-21 liquor policy.

Alleging the then Chief Secretary had misbehaved during the meeting, the ministers led by Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal walked out of the meeting. They later complained about the Chief Secretary’s behaviour to the Chief Minister.

Among the various issues that had raised their head in the meeting in which the ministers and the Chief Secretary had squabbled was a liquour revenue deficit of Rs 1800 crore. Both sides had blamed each other.

The Chief Secretary held that liquor had moved across states, been sold without receipts under the patronage of top politicians from the state. The ministers alleged the Chief Secretary’s vested interest and family’s involvement in the illegal activities.

The matter reached a stalemate. The Chief Minister got involved. He even hosted a lunch for the aggrieved ministers and divested the Chief Secretary of the additional charge of Financial Commissioner, Taxation. However, even that did not placate the ministers. Hence, the new developments: moving Singh upstairs and bringing in Vini Mahajan as his replacement.

Bucking the trend that bureaucrats are aligned with politicians and political parties, Vini Mahajan has had a stellar career irrespective of governments or their performance. She was deputed at the former Prime Minister’s Office when the Shiromani Akali Dal won elections for the second consecutive time in Panjab in 2012.

The SAD chief minister Prakash Singh Badal called Vini Mahajan back from Delhi. She was given the health portfolio which she handled until the end of the SAD term.

When the SAD lost at the hustings, the new Congress Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh appointed Vini Mahajan Additional Chief Secretary Investment, Industries, Information Technology, and Governance Reforms and Public Grievances.

At this time, while the Covid-19 pandemichas slowed down investments and industries worldwide including Punjab, Vini Mahajan has been promoted as the new Chief Secretary.

Vini Mahajan is also the wife of Punjab Police chief Dinkar Gupta. Gupta is also a 1987-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer. It is in rare public memory that a power couple is on top of both the police and the bureaucracy in a state.

As far as state level promotions go, the couple has topped them in the process triumphed Punjab’s intricate politics.

However, Vini Mahajan now occupies a space which has huge expectations.

The Congress government that rode high on people’s expectations in the previous elections has about one and half year to prove the difference it has made to the state.

Punjab’s downward spiralling economy, its dwindling water tables and long suffering agrarian sector, lack of adequate education and health facilities, lack of industries and jobs for youth, and the immense recent migration are huge challenges that stand as boulders in the path of the Chief Secretary.

Punjab’s first woman Chief Secretary, Vini Mahajan, has a lot on her plate to handle. At this point, one can hope the change is in the best interest of Punjab.