Vinay Choubey named new secy to CM

Ranchi: State urban development and housing department secretary Vinay Kumar Choubey will replace principal secretary to chief minister Rajiv Arun Ekka. The 1999 batch IAS officer will also take additional charge of as many as six departments, including all the roles he played earlier. A notification in this regard -- issued by the personnel, administrative reforms and Rajbhasa department here on Wednesday – was however silent about the role given to Ekka after his transfer.
Choubey will remain secretary (urban development and housing), secretary (excise and prohibition), managing director of Jharkhand Urban Infrastructure Development Company (JUIDCO), excise commissioner, managing director of Jharkhand Beverage Corporation Ltd and managing director Greater Ranchi Development Agency.
Considered a go-getter bureaucrat, his name was making rounds for the post of secretary to CM as soon as Hemant Soren government was voted to power in December 2019. Choubey was then the chief electoral officer (CEO) of the state. Though Choubey served at various bureaucratic positions in the state, his stint as the deputy commissioner-cum-district magistrate of Ranchi in 2012-13 is remembered for achieving the highest Aadhaar enrolment, making Ranchi top the list of all districts in the country.