Mumbai: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday directed the Maharashtra government to appoint senior IAS officer Bhushan Gagrani as the new Mumbai municipal commissioner.
Gagrani, till now serving as additional chief secretary in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO), will replace Iqbal Singh Chahal, who has been moved out from the post of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner on EC orders. The poll panel, in an order to the chief secretary, also asked the state government to appoint senior bureaucrats Saurabh Rao and Kailash Shinde as the new civic commissioners of adjoining Thane and Navi Mumbai, respectively.
The commission directed that the three officers shall not hold any additional charge outside their respective corporation. Soon after announcing the Lok Sabha poll schedule on March 16, the EC had ordered the transfer of Chahal, who was also serving as the BMC administrator, and civic commissioners, additional/deputy municipal commissioners who have served more than three years in the present position and are posted in their home district in Maharashtra. Maharashtra, which has 48 Lok Sabha seats, will vote in five phases in April-May.
