LUCKNOW: Immediately on assuming charge as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, Mayawati swung into action and went on an appointment, suspension and transfer spree. The officers punished and transferred held key postings under the Samajwadi Party regime.

Earlier, Ms. Mayawati was sworn in at a simple ceremony at the Raj Bhavan. A 49-member Ministry, including 19 Ministers of Cabinet rank, also assumed office. The caste composition of the Cabinet is: three Brahmins, one Muslim, one Thakur, one Bhumihar, one Vaishya, four Scheduled Castes and eight OBCs.

Around 79 IAS, PPS and Provincial Civil Service officers have been transferred with the officers considered close to the former Chief Minister, Mulayam Singh, shunted to insignificant posts.

On Ms. Mayawati's first day in office the axe fell on Principal Secretary, PWD, Satish Kumar Agarwal, the Vice Chairman of the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA), B.B. Singh and the Chief Engineer of LDA, Dr. Yadav. They were suspended for laxity in the maintenance of the Ambedkar Park, built by Ms. Mayawati when she was the CM earlier.

The retirement benefits of the fourth officer, R.S. Yadav, who was the Managing Director of UP Rajya Nirman Nigam have been withdrawn.

The Chief Minister began her new innings by "rehabilitating" officers languishing on relatively unimportant posts in the previous regime. While Shashank Shekhar Singh was brought in as Cabinet Secretary and Agriculture Production Commissioner, Shailesh Krishna was made the Principal Secretary to the CM. A confidant to Ms. Mayawati, Mr. Singh was the Industrial Development Commissioner when she was the Chief Minister in 2002-2003. After her exit, he was made Adviser, Civil Aviation by Mr. Mulayam Singh. Now the special post of Cabinet Secretary has been created by Ms. Mayawati to accommodate Mr. Singh in the Chief Minister's Secretariat.A qualified pilot, Mr. Singh does not belong to the IAS cadre.

Mr. Krishna was once close to the former Chief Minister but later fell out with him.Ms. Mayawati also passed an order for winding up the Uttar Pradesh Development Council (UPDC), set up by her predecessor. Earlier, addressing her first press conference, Ms. Mayawati said the decisions taken by the previous regime after the announcement of the election schedule on February 21 would be cancelled and inquiry initiated into cases of injustice against the common man.

PTI reports:

Ms. Mayawati said she strongly favoured reservation for the economically weaker sections among the upper castes and religious minorities. She also came out in support of reservations for economically backward sections.

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