Tukaram Mundhe has been treading on many toes in all his postings.
A no-nonsense but popular Maharashtra bureaucrat Tukaram H. Mundhe was transferred for the 12th time in his 13 years as an Indian Administrative Service officer on Thursday.
He was the Commissioner of Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) and has now been posted as Additional Secretary, Planning, at Mantralaya, the state government headquarters.
For the 2005-batch IAS officer hailing from a poor family in Beed, this is the fourth transfer since May 2016, but he is unfazed.
"I have good response from the people. They have a say in governance, which is participatory in nature. I thank them for their support. That is the real inspiration for me," smiled Mr Mundhe in an informal media interaction.
About his latest transfer coming in the midst of the ongoing winter session of the legislature, he shrugged: "Every now and then, a kid has to be admitted to a new school."
Mr Mundhe, 43, has been at loggerheads with the political class, treading on many toes in all his postings due to his no-nonsense approach to administration, but earning admiration from the masses.
He headed the NMC controlled by the Bharatiya Janata Party. Prior to that, he served as Managing Director of Pune Municipal Transport Corporation Ltd, and previously as Municipal Commissioner of the Shiv Sena-ruled Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation.
Considered as an accessible people's officer, Mr Mundhe also served in important capacities in Nanded, Solapur, Jalna, Nagpur and as CEO of KVIC and others, and was awarded the Best Collector (Solapur) for 2015-2016 by the state government.