Sanjay Malhotra: The rise of another ‘son of the soil’!

Jaipur: It is a matter of pride and happiness for Rajasthan bureaucracy that a Rajasthan cadre IAS ‘son of the soil’ Sanjay Malhotra has made a long jump and found himself in an important ministry - Ministry of Finance - of the Government of India as Secretary.

His achievement is matter of elated surprise for bureaucracy.

1990 BATCH IAS OFFICER

Born in Bikaner, 1990 batch IAS Sanjay Malhotra had gone on deputation in January 2020 to the Power Ministry as Additional Secretary, but in the past 2 years, Malhotra created wonders and through his ability and work ethics, he created such a niche for himself that the Modi government, which is considered to be extremely strict and thorough in selection of officers, picked him up quickly and accorded him the important position of Secretary in Finance Ministry.

He has been made Secretary of the Department of Financial Services, which deals in banking and insurance.

OFFICER WITH A GOOD RECORD

In this way, Modi government is not only bringing the right talent to key positions but also encouraging officers with a good track record to get elevated positions.

Malhotra was empanelled to the post of Secretary merely 3 months back in October 2021 and within this short period, he has become a Secretary.

The post of Secretary, DFS fell vacant just 10 days back when on January 31 former Secretary Debashish Panda retired.

Nearly half a dozen senior secretaries were contenders to this chair but the Appointment Committee of Cabinet (ACC) appointed Malhotra late on Tuesday night.

EXPERIENCE IN POWER SECTOR

Malhotra has extensive power sector experience, both at the state and central government level.

He held the reins of the power sector of the state for 4 years during which he took several revolutionary steps.

He implemented the UDAY scheme which resulted in decreasing the loss of power companies to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore and therefore he is often called a pioneer of revolution in the power sector.

In the Centre, he carried out the task of Additional secretary in Power Ministry till November 2020 and then as CMD of REC.

Sanjay Malhotra is a topper of the 1990 batch IAS as a result of which he was given his chosen home state cadre.

When in 1999 Vasundhara Raje became a minister in the Vajpayee cabinet, at that time she called him to Delhi and handed the responsibility of her Ministry to this dynamic officer.

In the years 2006-07, he also held the reins of the Finance department in the state and served as Commissioner, Commercial Taxes also.

This experience of finance will now be helpful to Sanjay in this new innings in the Ministry of Finance. There are still 6 years left to his retirement in February 2028.

The spot in the Finance Ministry that he has reached now, only points to his path to the chair of Cabinet Secretary of Government of India in the future.