Sukhbir Singh Sandhu

Sukhbir Singh Sandhu (born 6 July 1963) is a retired Indian Administrative Service officer of 1988-batch belonging to the Uttarakhand cadre. He is serving as Election Commissioner of India since March 2024.^[1][2][3]

Sukhbir Singh Sandhu
ਸੁਖਬੀਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਸੰਧੂ
Election Commissioner of India
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 March 2024
Preceded by	Arun Goel
Secretary to the Lokpal of India
In office 5 February 2024 – 14 March 2024
Preceded by	Bharat Lal
Succeeded by	Pradip Kumar Tripathi
Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand
In office 6 July 2021 – 31 January 2024
Preceded by	Om Prakash Singh
Succeeded by	Radha Raturi
Chairman, NHAI
In office 28 October 2019 – 5 July 2021
Preceded by	N. N. Sinha
Succeeded by	Giridhar Aramane
Personal details
Born	(1963-07-06) 6 July 1963 (age 62)
Alma mater	(MBBS) Government Medical College, Amritsar
Occupation	Retired IAS Officer

Education

He did his MBBS from Government Medical College, Amritsar. He also has a master's degree in history from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, and a law degree.

Career

Previously, he served as Secretary, Lokpal of India, from 5 February 2024 till 14 March 2024. Before this, he served as the Chief Secretary, Government of Uttarakhand from July 2021 to January 2024. Prior to that, he served as Chairman, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for about 2 years. He also served in Government of India as Additional Secretary, Higher Education, where he looked after IITs, IIMs, NITs etc.

Earlier, he served in various positions in the Government of Uttarakhand, Government of Uttar Pradesh and Government of Punjab. He worked as Secretary in several departments including Infrastructure Development, Highways, PPP Projects, Urban Development, Power, Industries, New & Renewable Energy, Finance, etc.

He served as Principal Secretary to 4 CMs from 3 different political parties, for about eight years.

In NHAI, arbitration disputes worth Rs. 30,000 Cr were resolved by conciliation during his tenure, bringing great relief to the contractors and banks. Nationwide compulsory ‘Fastag’ for Toll Collection was implemented by him, resulting in annual saving of about Rs.35,000 Cr to the nation. NHAI was made one of the most digitalised, drone monitored and portal governed organization during this period.

He had also served as Collector / District Magistrate of Haridwar, Gautam Budh Nagar (NOIDA) and Udham Singh Nagar districts.

He simplified the processes / procedures for effective delivery and found solution to many challenges.

He has interest in trekking and mountaineering and had scaled Black Peak (22,000 feet) in Uttarkashi District of Uttarakhand.

He delivered a talk on ‘De-stressing Indian Cities’ at Harvard Business School, Boston, U.S.A, on invitation.

Publications

He has published papers on 'Urban Reforms' and 'Municipal Management and Capacity Building'. He was conferred the President Medal in recognition of his services as Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana, Punjab.^{[citation needed][4][5][6]}