Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The suspense over chief secretary’s appointment ended on the day of the present incumbent Iqbal Singh Bains’s retirement on Wednesday.
Bains has been given six months’ extension till May 31 next year. The proposal for extension was sent to the Central Government on November 9, and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan himself took the initiative for it.
A 1985-batch IAS officer, Bains is considered to be very close to Chouhan. He is the fourth chief secretary in the state who has been given extension.
Before Bains, RP Kapoor, R Parshuram and BP Singh had been given six months’ extension.
There were speculations that the 1989-batch IAS officers Anurag Jain and Mohd Suleman would get that most-sought-after post in the state bureaucracy. Nevertheless, the Chief Minister has given extension to Bains. The Central Government did not want relieve Jain.