The Gujarat government has made significant changes in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) as part of the bureaucratic reshuffle announced on Tuesday. The most notable change is appointment of senior IAS officer Sanjeev Kumar (IAS:1998:GJ), Principal Secretary, Forests & Environment Department, as Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister. With this posting, he becomes the senior-most officer in the CMO. At present, no officer of Additional Chief Secretary rank is posted in the Chief Minister’s Office.
Another key posting is that of Ajay Kumar (IAS:2006:GJ), who has been appointed as Secretary to the Chief Minister. He was prematurely repatriated from central deputation on November 28, 2025, where he was serving as Joint Secretary in the Department of Commerce. His return to the state now appears to be linked to this CMO posting.
Within the office, Dr. Vikrant Pandey (IAS:2005:GJ) has been re-designated as Additional Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister. He had been working as Secretary to the Chief Minister since joining the CMO in May 2025. Before that, he served as Gujarat’s Resident Commissioner in New Delhi.
At the same time, Avantika Singh Aulakh (IAS:2003:GJ) has been moved out of the CMO. She has been posted to the Energy and Petrochemicals Department and will take over as Managing Director of Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (GSPC), Gandhinagar. She had been serving in the Chief Minister’s Office since September 2021.
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