MUMBAI: NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has told the Maharashtra government to replace Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal and other municipal officials in the state who have been in their current posts for more than three years, people familiar with the matter said on Monday.
Maharashtra chief electoral officer S Chokalimgam confirmed the development.
The directive comes more than a fortnight after the commission rejected the Maharashtra government’s request to allow Chahal to continue so that Mumbai’s preparations for the monsoon after not impacted. Chief minister Eknath Shinde last month told HT that that these officers were in no way connected to polls and should be allowed to continue.
ECI first told the state to identify and transfer all officials who have completed three years in their current positions. On February 22, ECI told the state that the commissioner and additional commissioners of muncipal bodies such as BMC were covered by the three-year transfer rule. This rule was expected to impact Chahal, additional commissioners Ashwini Bhide and P Velrasu, and Pune commissioner Vikram Kumar.
Chief minister Shinde, however, did not want the municipal officers to be disturbed because of the Lok Sabha elections and requested the ECI to exempt these officers who were overseeing civic works related to monsoon.
The state’s first formal request was rejected last month. Last week, Maharashtra reiterated its request to let them continue last week but it too was declined, prompting the state to start looking for Chahal’s replacement.
The other two municipal commissioners in Maharashtra who were identified by ECI were Kavita Dwivedi in Akola and Vikram Kumar in Pune. Last week, the government appointed Dwivedi as Pune division additional commissioner and Kumar as MMRDA additional commissioner .
Among the officers being considered for Chahal’s replacement is additional chief secretary Bhushan Gagrani, who heads the chief minister’s secretariat.
Chahal, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1989 batch, was appointed municipal commissioner on May 8, 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic when the government replaced Praveen Pardeshi. Chahal continued to hold the top municipal post even after the Uddhav Thackeray government collapsed and Eknath Shinde took charge as chief minister.
In March 2022, Chahal started running the BMC, the country’s richest corporation, as its administrator after the term of the elected corporators expired on March 7, 2022.
BMC additional commissioner Ashwini Bhide was first appointed to the corporation in May 2020. The 1995 batch IAS officer was later appointed as managing director of the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation but continued to hold charge as additional municipal corporation of Mumbai Eastern Suburbs.
Velarasu, an additional municipal commissioner in charge of projects in the BMC, is a 2002 batch IAS officer and has been in the BMC since January 17, 2020.
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