Gurugram: Chief Minister Nayab Saini has again initiated changes in the Haryana administrative setup, signaling his intent to assert his leadership and carve an identity distinct from his predecessor Manohar Lal Khattar.
On Sunday, IPS officer Saurabh Singh of 1998 batch was appointed as the new Chief of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Singh replaces Alok Mittal, a Khattar-era appointee who was made the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
Singh’s ascension is seen as part of Saini’s broader strategy to position his trusted officials in pivotal roles.
Another significant change was the appointment of senior additional advocate general Pravinder Singh Chauhan as the new advocate general, replacing Baldev Mahajan in the process.
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Both Mittal and Mahajan were appointed during Khattar’s tenure. While Mahajan was appointed immediately after Khattar took over as the CM for the first time in 2014, Mittal was made the ADG, CID in July 2020.
While the advocate general in the role of the state’s highest law enforcement official assists the government with legal matters, the CID chief, being head of the intelligence wing of the government, serves as its eyes and ears. These administrative changes follow earlier changes in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), where several Khattar-appointed officers were replaced with those seen to be closer to Saini.
In November, Saini had made a major shake-up in his CMO by inducting Arun Gupta as his principal secretary in place of V. Umashankar, who went on a central deputation, Saket Kumar as additional principal secretary in place of Amit Agarwal. He had also inducted Yashpal as deputy principal secretary in the CMO.
Mahajan, meanwhile, sought to downplay him stepping down from the office of advocate general, saying that he, in fact, repeatedly requested Saini for a change.
“There is an established practice of a new CM picking the advocate general of his choice. When Nayab Saini became the CM in March, I requested him to appoint his own advocate general. However, he told me to continue since the elections were only six months away. After the assembly results, I requested him once again,” he told ThePrint.
Mahajan said that he has worked as the advocate general for 10 years, which is a long term for any law officer in the office.
As for his next course of action, the senior advocate said that he had been in legal practice since 1982 and will continue to do so in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Prof. Kushal Pal, the principal of Indira Gandhi Government College at Ladwa, said that the decisions taken by the Nayab Saini government in the past few days suggest that the CM is gradually coming out of the shadow of his predecessor.
“When Saini took over as the CM in March, he was considered Khattar’s protégé. Till the assembly elections came, he was clearly seen working under his shadow. During the Lok Sabha polls, Khattar was seen heading the campaign in Haryana. However, when the assembly elections came, the party’s top leadership made it clear that the election would be contested under Saini,” Prof. Pal told The Print.
“Khattar was not even seen during key election rallies, and Saini almost single handedly pulled out an almost impossible victory when a Congress rule seemed imminent. Though Saini reappointed Khattar’s chief principal secretary Rajesh Khullar after the polls, he replaced other key officers in the CMO. Now by shifting Khattar-appointed advocate general and CID chief, the CM has shown that he wants to run the government in his own way.”
Prof. Pal added that there was nothing new in Saini trying to come out of Khattar’s shadows.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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