New Delhi (21.08.2021): A Sikkim cadre 1989 batch IAS officer Govind Mohan, presently working as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), may soon be elevated to the rank of GoI Secretary. He was empanelled six months back for holding a Secretary-rank post in the Government of India in February 2021.

Well-placed sources suggest that Mohan may be posted as Secretary of the newly constituted Ministry of Cooperation headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The new Ministry of Cooperation is seen as NDA's 'Ramban' for dealing with rural distress, agony, and mounting disenchantment in the intervening years to the 2024 General Elections.

Call it a coincidence that Mohan, who has been working with Shah, will continue to work with the same ‘boss’.

The prime reason attributed for Mohan's meteoric rise to an eminent position is his 'seemingly' extraordinary performance as the nodal MHA official to deal with the Corona pandemic. It is said that he functions like Argos and puts in as much as 18 hours a day to his job.

Before his central deputation, Mohan had a short stint of 27 months in Rajasthan as a powerful secretary to the then Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. There, in Jaipur, he reportedly played a critical role. But for some reason, Raje developed 'temperamental differences with him. This made Mohan opt for a central deputation. 

Reports of his likely elevation as GoI Secretary in GoI have gladdened the hearts of his Rajasthan colleagues who consider him as one of their own though Mohan belongs to the Sikkim cadre.

(By Aditi Nagar)

(COURTESY: FIRST INDIA, an English daily published from Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Lucknow)