Sitaram Kunte, who recently retired from the post of Chief Secretary, has been appointed as Principal Advisor to Maharashtra Chief Minister's Secretariat in view of his long experience in administration.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray gave instructions in this regard today.

The Maharashtra Government has given additional charge of Chief Secretary to Debashish Chakravarty, an IAS officer of 1986 batch. Chakravarty, will succeed the outgoing CS Sitaram Kunte, whose term ended today, November 30.

The Maharashtra Government earlier had written to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) proposing six months’ extension to the Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte from December 1 to May 31 under the present norms. Kunte, who comes from the 1985 IAS batch, retires on November 30.

Kunte took charge on February 28 this year as the Chief Secretary from the outgoing CS Sanjay Kumar. The state government chose Kunte while rejecting his batchmate and former BMC Commissioner Praveen Pardeshi for the Chief Secretary’s post.

The government’s move comes ahead of the upcoming elections to the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and other civic and local bodies.

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Maharashtra: Sitaram Kunte retires, Debashish Chakravarty takes additional charge of Chief Secretary