The top officials in the Gujarat government have been assigned additional charges of the other departments.

Despite the order of the Election Commission of India (ECI), the state government has not made any reforms in its administrative designations. According to sources, as many as 18 IAS and 12 IPS officers have additional charges.

Pankaj Joshi, who was serving as additional chief secretary (ACS) at the chief minister’s office, was assigned additional charge of the home department. Similarly, ACS AK Rakesh was assigned the additional charge of agriculture, farmers' welfare and cooperation department.

ACS Kamal Dayani of the general administration department holds the charge as the managing director of Gujarat state fertilisers & chemicals limited (GSFC). KK Nirala holds the charge of finance secretary (expenditure) for the women and child development department.

Geology & mining commissioner Dr Dhaval Patel has the additional charge of civil aviation commissioner. The government has given Gujarat pollution control board (GPCB) chairman RB Bard the additional charge of appellate secretary in the revenue department.

Earlier in February, the general administration department had given additional charges to 10 IAS officers in addition to the existing duty in the vacant posts, out of which the Vadodara municipal commissioner was given the responsibilities of  Vadodara urban development authority (VUDA) and three other officers were given additional charge of drawing and disbursing officer (DDO).

10 state officials including Swapnil Khare, Sachin Kumar, Raj Suthar, Atirag Chaplot, Ganga Singh, PN Makwana, Manish Gurwani, Ranjit Kumar, and Arpit Sagar have also been given additional charges.

On the other hand, around a dozen police officers in the state have additional charges, including seven IPS officers who were recently placed on leave reserve by the election commission.

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