Johny Joseph is new Maharashtra chief secretary

MUMBAI: Johny Joseph, an IAS officer of the 1972 batch, on Monday took over as Maharashtra's chief secretary.

He succeeds D K Sankaran, who retired today after a 37-year stint. Sankaran had taken over the post on March 1, 2006.

Immediately after taking charge at a brief ceremony at Mantralaya, Joseph said he would focus on issues like water, power shortage and agriculture.

Asked about plans to transform Mumbai into a world-class city, Joseph, who was earlier Mumbai Municipal Commissioner since February 2004, said it had been the endeavour of the state government for the last five years.

Joseph, who is known to be close to Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, said he was "indebted" to Deshmukh and Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil for choosing him as the state's top bureaucrat.

Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) chairperson Rani Jadhav (1970 batch) and additional chief secretary (GAD) Chitkala Zutshi (1971 batch) were also among the contenders for the post.

Earlier, addressing IAS officials at a farewell function, Sankaran said his tenure as chief secretary was fulfilling.

"We could improve disposal of pending files and instill discipline. We could meet the challenge posed by floods in Mumbai and elsewhere," he said.