Baldev Singh appointed as industries dept’s chief secy

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday transferred Chief Electoral Officer Baldev Singh and appointed him as the principal secretary of the industries department.

Sources said the Chief Minister-led general administration department had already written to the Election Commission of India, requesting that the 1989-batch IAS officer be relieved of his current duties. It has now recommended three names – Shrikant Deshpande (1991-batch), Anand Limaye (1989) and Aseem Gupta (1994) – as probables to succeed Singh to the post, the sources added.

B Venugopal Reddy (1994), principal secretary of the industries department, has been appointed as the managing director of SICOM Ltd.