NEW DELHI: Former bureaucrat Arun Goel, who took charge as an Election Commissioner here on Wednesday, will occupy a position which fell vacant in May this year after the then Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Kumar retired and handed over the baton to Rajiv Kumar. The second Election Commissioner is Anup Chandra Pandey.
Kumar, the incumbent CEC, is away in Nepal as an international observer for the general elections in that country called and congratulated Goel before welcoming him to the vital constitutional body. He expressed confidence that the appointment of Goel, a former IAS officer of the Punjab cadre, will strengthen the EC’s “endeavours” in ensuring that the electoral process becomes more “inclusive, accessible and participative”.
In his 37 years in the bureaucracy, Goel has served several ministries at the Centre and departments in his home cadre. Belonging to the 1985 batch of the IAS, Goel was secretary at the Ministry of Heavy Industries between 2020 and 2022 when he is said to have catalysed e-vehicle movement to a “tipping point”. During 2018-2019, Goel was the secretary at the Ministry of Culture.
Prior to this, Goel was the additional secretary and financial adviser at the Ministry of Labour and Employment for a year and during 2015 and 2016 he was the vice chairman of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). For two years (2012-2014), Goel was the joint secretary in the finance ministry’s revenue department and served in the same position for a year (2011) in the Ministry of Urban Development. That was also the year he moved to the Centre on deputation.
In 2010, Goel was the principal secretary (Power and Irrigation) and held the same designation between 2007 and 2009 when he served the Housing and Urban Development department. He was the secretary, Department of Expenditure in 2006 and was the managing director of the Punjab Industries and Export Corporation during 2003-2005.
Goel headed the Punjab Warehousing Corporation as its managing director between 2001 and 2002. For five years (1995-2000) he was the district election officer (DEO) and collector, based in Ludhiana and in 1994 he was MD of Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation.
He has been financial advisor at Labour Min
Arun Goel was the additional secretary and financial adviser at the Ministry of Labour and Employment for a year and during 2015 and 2016 he was the vice chairman of the DDA. Goel post-graduate degree in Development Economics from Churchill College, Cambridge, with distinction.