Those bureaucrats who think retirement is an end of the career need to re-orchestrate their thinking process. All they virtually need to do is to strike a right chord and develop an organic tie with their political bosses. That has been the reason why there are several bureaucrats in this country who start a fresh stint and emerge much stronger after retirement than during service.
The latest example is Praveen Pardeshi, a 1985-batch officer in Maharashtra. He took voluntary retirement after being denied the post of Chief Secretary in 2021, but due to his close association with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, a new position was created for him. He is now his chief economic adviser and will remain in place as long as Fadnavis remains in power. Not only this, Pardeshi will have the status of a Minister of State.
The General Administration Department (GAD) on Saturday published a detailed government resolution listing all of Pardeshi’s duties in his new role.
Pardeshi has many feathers in his cap as he is also the chief executive of the state government’s think tank MITRA and chairman of the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee. He was also appointed the co-chairperson of the state data policy’s apex governing committee- this role he will share with Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sujata Saunik.
Pardeshi struck the right chord and grabbed a space among Fadnavis’s most trusted officers during his first stint as the chief minister from 2014 to 2019. He then served as principal secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).
The top serving bureaucrats in the state draw consolation from the fact that Pardeshi wont be part of the CMO. They think Pardeshi will be more like a ‘CM’s personal staff’ than an officiating bureaucrat as his duties are distinct, and hence, will not curb the authority of any other person in the administrative set-up.
The fact remains, Pardeshi wields substantial power in the state administration and his job description involves duties that could potentially interfere with the authority of even Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, who holds Finance portfolio. It becomes clear from the fact that Pardeshi shoulders the responsibility of giving quarterly reviews of the state’s financial condition to the Cabinet for which he has to attend Cabinet meetings in order to give perspective on proposals for policy decisions by the finance department. Not only this, he will be even scrutinising proposals related to economic changes, industrial and agricultural policies when asked by the chief minister.
That is the prime reason why many opposition leaders feel that Pardeshi’s appointment is CM Fadnavis’s ploy to sideline Ajit Pawar.
(By-Dinesh Kumar)
