Abhay Kumar, additional chief secretary, water resources department and state water resources planning department has been given charge of chief secretary Rajasthan.
The chief secretary Sudhansh Pant, a 1991 batch officer – a batch senior to Abhay Kumar – is going on a foreign trip to United Kingdom from June 29 to July 7, 2025. Kumar has been nominated to hold the charge of chief secretary in absence of Pant.
Pant holds additional charge of administrator Rajfed. He will be attending the International Cooperative Alliance's General Assembly in Manchester.
Pant has issued an official order nominating Abhay Kumar to deal with important and urgent matters which need the attention of chief secretary during his foreign visit.
Abhay Kumar, a 1992 batch officer, is a hard working upright and seasoned officer. He had handled several important departments like home, public relations, Panchayatiraj, rural development, finance, industries and information technology among others in his 32 years of career.
Abhay Kumar is not the senior most IAS officer in cadre
Abhay Kumar is not the senior most IAS serving in Rajasthan after Sudhansh Pant. Subodh Agrawal (1988 batch) and Shubhra Singh (1989 batch) are senior to him. But both of them are posted out of secretariat.
While Subodh Agrawal is serving as chairman and managing director of Rajasthan Finance Corporation and Shubhra Singh is posted as chairperson of Rajasthan StateRoad Transport Corporation (RSRTC).
Abhay Kumar is a silent performer. He has been working at several positions and had been a great performer. He has held the additional charge of chief secretary in the past also. First time when Pant went to Singapore from 6-12 October 2024 to promote Rising Rajasthan Global Summit and then also for a brief period of three days – 13-15 December 2024 when chief secretary Pant was in New Delhi attending chief secretaries' conference.

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