Additional Chief Secretary Ashok Varnawal was appointed to head the Health Department, replacing Sandeep Yadav, who has been posted in his place. Senior bureaucrat Manish Singh returned as Commissioner of Public Relations and will simultaneously hold charge as Transport Secretary, according to the official order issued in Bhopal.

Among other significant changes, former Public Relations Commissioner Deepak Saxena was appointed Excise Commissioner. His predecessor Abhijit Agarwal has been shifted as Managing Director of the State Cooperative Marketing Federation after serving two years in the excise post. Officials noted the reassignment comes shortly before implementation of the state’s new excise policy.

In the power and agriculture sectors, 2009-batch officer Ajay Gupta was moved from Director of Farmer Welfare and Agricultural Development to Managing Director of the East Zone Power Distribution Company Jabalpur. Meanwhile, 2011-batch officer Umashankar Bhargav returned from a posting at Raj Bhavan after eight months and has been assigned Gupta’s former agriculture role.

At the district level, Sunil Dubey, Chief Executive Officer of Bhind Zilla Panchayat, has been made Deputy Secretary to the Governor. Sanghamitra Gautam, previously Deputy Secretary in Higher Education, is now CEO of Alirajpur Zilla Panchayat. Nanda Bhalave Kushre moves from Agar Malwa Zilla Panchayat to Additional Project Director in the National Secondary Education Mission, while Kamal Solanki has been posted as CEO of Raisen Zilla Panchayat.

The reshuffle also affected state administrative service officers. Bhurla Singh Solanki has been appointed CEO of District Panchayat Agar Malwa; Milind Kumar Nagdeve goes to Khargone; Veer Singh Chauhan to Bhind; and Rakesh Sharma becomes Chief General Manager of the Central Region Power Distribution Company.

Administrative officials said such overnight reshuffles are typically executed to ensure immediate charge transfers and minimise disruption to departmental functioning. The latest changes affect health governance, rural administration, power distribution, and communications—sectors considered crucial ahead of upcoming policy rollouts and development reviews.