Iqbal Singh Chahal has been appointed as the Additional Chief Secretary in the Home Department. The post was vacant after Sujata Saunik was appointed as the Chief Secretary. His appointment comes at a time when the state government and the police appear to have been pushed to the corner after the recent agitation in Badlapur and subsequent developments over the sexual assault case in a local school.
Chahal, who is currently Additional Chief Secretary to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, was earlier the municipal commissioner of Mumbai. He will take over the reins of the crucial department when the state is witnessing tensions amid political and social issues.
Even after Saunik was appointed as the Chief Secretary, she was handling the additional charge as additional chief secretary of the Home department.
Chahal, an IAS officer of the 1989 batch, was removed as the commissioner of BMC on the instructions of the Election Commission of India during the Lok Sabha elections. He was the civic chief from May 8, 2020, to March 2024, and was considered close to the ruling Mahayuti government.
Known as a high-profile bureaucrat, Chahal was appointed as the civic chief by Uddhav Thackeray when he was the chief minister. His closeness with Shinde was seen as the reason for his long tenure as commissioner and then as an administrator of the richest civic body in India.
Insiders said that the BJP took his position with a pinch of salt. Now again he is in a department that is headed by BJP stalwart and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.
