Former Chief Secretary of Punjab, the 1987-batch IAS officer Vinni Mahajan might be appointed Cabinet Secretary of India, in place of Mr Rajiv Gauba, the 1982-batch Jharkhand cadre IAS officer. Mr Gauba was appointed as Cabinet Secretary on August 21, 2019 for a period of two years. But, his tenure has been extended by Cabinet Committee on appointments (ACC) four times on a trot. According to highly placed sources, Ms Mahajan is stated to be the front-runner to succeed Mr Gauba.
Vinni Mahajan on the other hand, has the honor of being first woman chief secretary of Punjab while her husband Dinkar Gupta was the DGP of the state. She was also appointed as Secretary of Jal Shakti ministry at the centre on January 3, 2022.
Mahajan is an economics graduate from Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University, and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, where she earned a place on the roll of honour.
She has held prominent positions in Punjab, and served in the Prime Minister’s Office during the tenure of Dr Manmohan Singh from 2005 to 2012. She had served as additional chief secretary, investment promotion, industries & commerce, IT and governance reforms and public grievances.
She was chairperson of the Health Sector Response and Procurement Committee while serving as additional secretary of Health department during Covid pandemic.
Ms Mahajan served as Joint Secretary to the Prime Minister of India from 2007-2012, and earlier in 2004-05 as Director in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance.
She has served in various capacities in the State of Punjab, as M.D. of the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board, as the first Director Disinvestment in the State, as Secretary, Power and as Special Secretary, Expenditure. Ms Mahajan received numerous academic awards, including the National Talent Search Scholarship. She was a Hubert Humphrey fellow based at American University in Washington DC in 2000 –2001.
Ms. Mahajan is an MBA from Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta, where she was placed on the Roll of Honour. She did B.A. (Honours) Economics from Lady Shri Ram College (LSR), Delhi University. father, Mr B.B. Mahajan, was also an IAS officer of the Punjab cadre — the 1957 batch topper.
