By IANS,
Chandigarh : Kewal Kumar Sharma has been appointed as the next advisor to Chandigarh administrator Shivraj Patil, an official release said here Friday.
Sharma, a 1983-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, is presently principal secretary (public works department) in New Delhi. He replaces Pradip Mehra, a 1975-batch IAS officer.
Chandigarh is a union territory and the Punjab governor is its administrator.
Mehra’s tenure in Chandigarh saw many run-ins with former administrator S.F. Rodrigues over the controversial land deals in various mega projects that were worth several crores of rupees.
Mehra had openly objected to these land deals allegedly for their being under-valued and also for allotment of the land to certain builders at rates much lower than the prevailing market price.
A vigilance inquiry was also initiated against Mehra and his powers to write annual confidential reports of his juniors were also withdrawn. But later he was given a clean chit in the inquiry report.