Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Secretary D K Jain, whose term is set to end on January 31, is likely to get an extension of three months due to his experience in tackling drought. Jain, serving in New Delhi, had used his rapport to get maximum relief for Maharashtra in 2015 to mitigate the drought situation. His likely extension is also due for election preparations, scheduled in April and May.
“As the Lok Sabha elections are approaching, there is a risk to hand over responsibility of the administration to the new bureaucrat as CS. The new bureaucrat would take time to set in his office and election periods are crucial. In that situation, the Chief Minister may choose to continue existing CS,” claimed a senior bureaucrat.
He added the state is facing severe drought. Jain is an experienced bureaucrat, and it’d be good to keep him in the office till monsoon. Being additional chief secretary in the finance department, Jain maintained the financial discipline and the stature of the department. During his tenure, finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar succeeded to present surplus budget last year.
Jain, a soft-spoken bureaucrat (IAS batch 1983) has served in departments, including agriculture, rural development and IT at the Centre. First two are directly related to farmer’s issues. His rapport had come to aid of the state government in 2015 and the Centre had sanctioned over `4,000 as a relief to tackle drought. Jain was the ACS agriculture. Principle secretary (finance) UPS Madan and BMC chief Ajoy Mehta are claimant of the post of CS. However, Madan has expertise in infrastructure and served longer in the sector. Earlier, only Jayant Kumar Banthia was given a six-month extension. Swadhin Kshatriya had got just a 1-month extension.