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Finance secretary Arvind Mayaram moved out in Narendra Modi's big reshuffle

Rajiv Mehrishi to take over from Mayaram, Arvind Subramanian appointed chief economic advisor

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From his plush corner room in the colonial structure at North Block to a third floor office in Transport Bhavan; from overseeing the country's budget of Rs 15 lakh crore to handling Rs 1,000 crore tourism budget; from being one of the most powerful bureaucrats to just handling a relatively smaller portfolio, Arvind Mayaram has been cut size.

In a surprise move, the government on Thursday moved economic affairs secretary Mayaram as secretary of the tourism ministry.

He has been replaced by Rajasthan chief secretary Rajiv Mehrishi in a mega reshuffle of bureaucrats by the central government.

The government also appointed Arvind Subramanian as chief economic adviser for a period of three years. Also, additional secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat Anil Swarup has been promoted as coal secretary.

Mayaram's perceived demotion, say government sources, is essentially aimed at curbing the proximity between legislature and bureaucracy. Finance ministry corridors, meanwhile, remained abuzz with theories shrouding the unceremonious exit of finance ministry's top bureaucrat.

Sources highly placed in the finance ministry told dna on condition of anonymity that Mayaram had been perceived as close to the Congress, and mainly former finance minister P Chidambaram.

Sources claim that the axe has fallen on Mayaram because he let off National Spot Exchange Ltd promoter Jignesh Shah with minor punishment.

A source said, "PMO is not impressed with his role in the NSEL case." A panel of secretaries headed by Mayaram, in its report submitted to the former finance minister P Chidambaram in September last year had said the NSEL – a commodity bourse – suffered minor systemic failures. NSEL is grappling with a payout crisis worth Rs 5,500 crore. Shah was arrested in May this year by the economic offences wing.

Immediately after taking over as the finance minister, Arun Jaitley called for a detailed report on the NSEL case and is reviewing the matter. The government is considering bringing guidelines for regulation of commodity exchanges.

Some of the key decisions that Mayaram is credited with is imposing the ban on gold imports, as gold imports were one of the key factors destabilising the rupee. It was on his insistence that Chidambaram did not go back on the decision despite UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi requesting him to bring the gold import duty in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections. The import curbs on gold and the flatscreen televisions from south east Asian countries have still not been lifted.

The new finance secretary, Rajiv Mehrshi, is 1978 batch Rajasthan cadre official. He has served as joint secretary in the rural development ministry and cabinet secretariat. In his home cadre, he has served in the departments such as urban development, revenue, and transport.

In another major transfer, water resources secretary Alok Rawat has been moved to department of administrative reforms.

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