Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday appointed 1982 batch IAS officer Deepak Singhal as the state's new chief secretary. Singhal replaces 1978 batch officer Alok Ranjan, who retired on June 30 after a three-month extension of service.
Singhal also supersedes at least five other officers senior to him in the civil services, to bag the top job. He took charge late on Wednesday evening.
He will also hold additional charge of principal resident commissioner of UP in New Delhi, and chairman of the Pradeshiya Industrial & Investment Corporation of UP (PICUP).
With chief minister Akhilesh Yadav travelling abroad, agriculture production commissioner Pravir Kumar was holding interim charge as chief secretary until Wednesday, after Ranjan's retirement. Kumar is also from the 1982 batch and senior to Singhal. Although there are at least five more officers of previous batches senior to them, Kumar and Singhal were considered front-runners for the top job.
Singhal is known to be a close confidant of senior SP leaders. Till Wednesday, he was serving as the principal secretary to department of irrigation under Shivpal Yadav. SP sources say that there was a raging debate in the party's first family over his elevation in which he reportedly had the backing of Shivpal and newly inducted Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh.
While Singhal had been heading the irrigation department since the beginning of the present SP regime, his brief foray into home department -- where he was given additional charge in 2014 -- ended unceremoniously.
He was removed just two weeks after taking charge because of his alleged proximity with Union home minister Rajnath Singh. Singhal had gone to meet along with former DGP AL Banerjee. While Banerjee was left waiting outside for over half an hour, Singhal remained huddled inside with the Union minister.
Singhal started his career as assistant magistrate Mathura in the undivided UP in 1983. Since then he has held key posts in departments like Electricity, Picup, commercial tax. He has also served as the commissioner of Meerut, Agra and Bareilly. Singhal was on Central deputation between 2006 and 2011.
Key projects he was overseeing until his appointment on Wednesday included the Gomti Riverfront project in Lucknow and strengthening and fortifying UP's canal networks, the river rejuvenation programme. He also spearheaded the CM's project to reclaim 100 ponds in 100 days in the politically crucial Bundelkhand region.
