Ajay Seth Given Additional Charge Of Revenue

It is now expected that the bureaucratic turmoil in the top leadership of the Ministry of Finance over the past 6-7 months will now settle down.

It all began in August last year, when Finance Secretary T V Somanathan, a 1987-batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, was made Cabinet Secretary, replacing one of the longest-serving officers, Rajiv Gauba, a 1982-batch IAS of the Jharkhand cadre.

This was followed by another Finance Secretary Sanjay Malhotra, a 1990-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, being made the RBI's 26th Governor last December, and the next incumbent Tuhin K Pandey, a 1987-batch IAS officer of the Odisha cadre, being elevated to head the capital markets regulator SEBI yesterday.

As a result, two positions — Finance Secretary and Revenue Secretary — fell vacant.

Immediately after Malhotra's appointment as the RBI Governor, Arunish Chawla, an IAS officer of the 1992-batch from the Bihar cadre, was appointed Revenue Secretary as part of a reshuffle of top bureaucrats. Before being shifted to the Ministry of Finance, Chawla was holding the post of Pharmaceuticals Secretary, with additional charge of the Culture Ministry.

However, Chawla’s stint as Revenue Secretary was short-lived, as in a sudden intra-ministry reshuffle, he was moved to head the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), just three weeks before the presentation of Union Budget on February 1, 2025.

In his place, Tuhin Pandey was given charge of the Department of Revenue. With Pandey moving out of the Ministry of Finance, there were speculations in the Ministry of Finance that Chawla could be brought back, given his exposure and experience.

But now, all speculations have been put to rest.