Punjab’s first woman chief secretary retires
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ Novemeber 1,2024
Vini Mahajan, a Punjab cadre IAS officer from the 1987 batch served as a secretary in the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation superannuated yesterday on October 31, 2024 from the IAS after an extremely satisfying span of over 37 years, both in state of Punjab and the Government of India.
She is on central deputation since December 2021, after the change of guard in the state. In her earlier stint, Mahajan served as Joint Secretary to the Prime Minister of India from 2007-2012, and in 2004-05 as Director in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance.
She was appointed first woman chief secretary of Punjab by former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh in June 2020. She had replaced Karan Avtar Singh as chief secretary.
Earlier she remained Additional Chief Secretary of the Departments of Housing & Urban Development, Government of Punjab and Industries & Commerce, IT and Investment Promotion. She was ACS/ Principal Secretary of the Department of Health and Family Welfare since April 2012 for 5 years. She also served as Principal Secretary Department of Medical Education and Research, and Principal Secretary Finance, Punjab. 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. She has over 8 years’ experience in cutting edge positions at the field level, including as Deputy Commissioner (the first woman to be posted as such in Punjab in 25 years).
A 1987-batch IAS officer, Mahajan is the wife of state’s former director general of police (DGP) and national Investigation Agency (NIA) chief Dinkar Gupta.
Vini 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. 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.
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