Meet the new Petroleum secretary

When the word spread that Petroleum Minister Jaipal Reddy wanted to replace the secretary at his ministry, the questions that came to everyone's mind were why and who?

Guessing why was not very difficult, as S Sundareshan did not fit into Reddy's style of functioning and his exit had looked imminent ever since the new minister assumed charge in January.

Sundareshan moved to the heavy industries ministry and Girish Chandra Chaturvedi (57), a 1977 batch Indian Administrative officer from the UP cadre, took charge as the new petroleum secretary on May 3.

Chaturvedi's association with Reddy can be traced back to the Cabinet minister's earlier portfolio, of the urban development ministry.

As a special director-general in the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games since April 26, 2010, Chaturvedi would have come in touch with Reddy for matters related to Delhi.

Chaturvedi is new to the sector and, as an official puts it, "he will take time to fit into Sundareshan's shoes".

Even as that could be true, his four years in the finance ministry as a joint secretary, and as an additional secretary in the Department Of Financial Services give him the required skills to fit in the mould of a ministry always jostling with oil numbers.

Sundareshan, who had also worked in the finance ministry, appeared to be have a pro-market outlook towards the sector.

But it is too early to gauge Chaturvedi's inclination. Besides, as another official pointed out: "He is unassuming."

In fact, on his first day in the ministry, Chaturvedi decided to knock on the doors of all joint secretaries and directors, and personally introduce himself, a rarity in the hierarchy-consicous bureacuracy.

Just two weeks in the ministry, the new secretary is already working on a fuel price rise.

In an inflationary economy, this could mean a lot of fire-fighting. But, for a postgraduate in social policy from the London School of Economics, tackling pricing issues that touch the common man may not be too difficult.