24 postings, 21 years: IAS Tukaram Mundhe - The officer Maharashtra can’t stop moving

There is an old joke in Maharashtra's bureaucratic corridors that if you want something done, post Tukaram Mundhe there. And if you want him gone, wait a few months. On Tuesday, the Maharashtra government did exactly that, issuing its 24th transfer order for the senior IAS officer in his 21-year career , moving him from the Divyang Kalyan (Divyang Welfare) Department at Mantralaya, where he had served as Secretary since August 2025 , to Secretary of the Disaster Management, Rehabilitation, Revenue and Forest Department. He had been at his previous post less than a year.

Mundhe is widely regarded as one of Maharashtra's most upright civil servants , but his career has been anything but smooth. As Municipal Commissioner of Nashik , he earned both praise and fury, cancelling illegal constructions, cracking down on unauthorised hawkers, and refusing to bend procurement rules for politically connected contractors, drawing intense opposition from local politicians who lobbied repeatedly for his removal. His stint as CMD of the Nagpur Improvement Trust was similarly stormy, marked by clashes over land acquisition irregularities and accusations from political quarters that he was being deliberately obstructive. At the Divyang Welfare Department, his most recent posting, he reportedly flagged fund allocation irregularities and pushed for stricter implementation of welfare programmes for persons with disabilities, again creating friction with those who preferred their arrangements undisturbed. A transfer order duly followed.

Whether each transfer is directly linked to these confrontations is never officially acknowledged. In Maharashtra's bureaucratic culture, it never is. But the pattern across 24 postings is impossible to ignore , Mundhe tightens systems, flags leakages, challenges entrenched interests, and is moved before he can finish the work. The state, by repeatedly posting him to sensitive departments, implicitly acknowledges his competence. By repeatedly moving him before he becomes too inconvenient, it ensures that competence has its limits .

The broader reshuffle carried several significant moves. Ashwini Bhide , formerly Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister, has been appointed Commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, becoming the first woman to hold the post in the BMC's 154-year history, a landmark appointment at India's richest civic body. Vikas Chandra Rastogi moves to the Finance Department as Additional Chief Secretary (Financial Reforms). Lokesh Chandra, formerly CMD of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd, steps in as Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister. Vinita Vaid Singal has been posted to the Soil and Water Conservation Department, Parimal Singh takes charge as Secretary (Agriculture) at Mantralaya, and Prithviraj B P becomes Civic Chief of the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation.

For Mundhe, the new portfolio, disaster management, land records, rehabilitation, is among the state's most complex and politically charged, dealing with areas historically prone to the same irregularities he has spent two decades resisting. Those who know him expect he will approach it with identical rigour. The 25th transfer , one suspects, is already taking shape somewhere in Maharashtra's administrative calendar.