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 The Maharashtra government has appointed Shridhar Dube Patil, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from the 2014 batch, as the new Commissioner of the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) following a major bureaucratic reshuffle in the state.
Shridhar Dube Patil with a diverse administrative portfolio is expected to bring a fresh perspective to the Maharashtra FDA, a department tasked with ensuring the safety and quality of food and pharmaceuticals across Maharashtra. He was earlier serving as managing director of the Maharashtra State Cooperative Marketing Federation (MSCMF) in Mumbai.
According to a State Government Order of February 02, 2026, the Maharashtra Government has appointed Shridhar Dube Patil as the new Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Maharashtra in place of Rajesh Narvekar, (IAS) (currently on leave) by demoting that post to the Junior Administrative Grade. Rahul Kulkarni, an IAS officer, has been appointed as Managing Director of MSCMF in place of Shridhar Dube Patil.
The Maharashtra government had appointed Rajesh Narvekar as the new Commissioner of the FDA, Maharashtra in the month of November, 2024. Narvekar assumed charge filling a post that had been vacant since August 2024, following the retirement of the former FDA Commissioner, Abhimanyu Kale.
Narvekar, a 2009-batch IAS officer had previously served as the Joint Secretary to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, as well as the Collector of Thane district. Before his appointment as the Maharashtra FDA Commissioner, he held the position of Commissioner of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC).
There are certain key tasks for the new Maharashtra FDA Commissioner like addressing manpower shortages and upgradation of the infrastructure of FDA labs in Maharashtra among others. Out of 200 sanctioned posts for drug inspectors, only 55 inspectors are currently deployed in the field. The remaining 145 positions lie vacant. To address this, the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) has already initiated recruitment for 109 new drug inspectors through a recently floated advertisement.
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