Former Union Home Secretary Anil Baijal is all set to fill the vacant post of Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. Earlier on December 22, Najeeb Jung, a former bureaucrat and academician, had resigned.
Some of the names doing rounds for the position included former IPS and Pondicherry LG Kiran Bedi and former Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi. But the Modi government has zeroed on former bureaucrat Anil Baijal, who is also associated with RSS- supported think thank Vivekananda Foundation.
Here are few things which should be known about Baijal:
– Baijal is a 1969 batch Indian Administrative Services Officer (IAS) of the Union territory cadre. He also holds a master’s degree in Arts from the University of Allahabad and the University of East Anglia.
– During NDA’s rule(1999-2004), he served as the Union Home Secretary but had to leave the post when UPA government assumed power.
– He also served as the Chairman and Managing Director of the Delhi Development Authority. He had been brought by LK Advani to change DDA’s scam hit image.
– During his tenure as a home secretary, he removed Kiran Bedi from her post as the head of jails accusing her on breaking every clause in the jail manual.
– He also served as a chairman, MD of Indian Airlines, CEO of Prasar Bharati Corporation and introduced DD Bharti.
– As an additional home secretary in the Information and Broadcasting, he is said to have played a crucial in extracting news from entertainment.
– Finally, he retired as a secretary in Urban Development Ministry in the year 2006 and later worked with many corporate boards.
– Post retirement, he was as a part of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) worth Rs.60,000 crore.
– Baijal also served as a member of the executive council of the Vivekananda International Foundation.
– Baijal was to replace NN Vohra as the governor of Jammu and Kashmir but the Centre decided against it after the situations in the valley deteriorated post killing of Burhan Wani.
