Maharashtra gets first woman chief secretary; Sujata Saunik takes charge

Mumbai: Senior IAS officer Sujata Saunik on Sunday took over as Maharashtra’s Chief Secretary, becoming the first woman in the state’s 64-year-old history to occupy the top post. 

Saunik, an IAS officer of the 1987 batch, succeeds Nitin Kareer who retired as the chief secretary on Sunday. 

She will have a year’s tenure before retiring in June next year, an official said. 

Kareer handed over the charge to Saunik at a ceremony held at Mantralaya, the state secretariat in south Mumbai. 

Before her elevation as the chief secretary, Saunik, whose husband Manoj Saunik is also a former state chief secretary, was the additional chief secretary in the state home department. 

Sujata Saunik has three decades of public policy and governance experience in healthcare, finance, education, disaster management, and peacekeeping at the district, state, and federal levels and in international organisations as part of the Indian Administrative Service and the United Nations.