Lucknow, March 1: Mayavati was today forced to curb the powers of her loyal cabinet secretary, Shashank Shekhar Singh, a former helicopter pilot who had risen up the ladder by impressing powerful politicians.

Singh will retain his post but not his cabinet minister rank, and will no longer head the state administration, the chief minister said days after the non-IAS official’s elevated status was challenged in Allahabad High Court. The court has served the state government with a notice.

Mayavati had created the post of cabinet secretary — unusual in a state government — for Singh, then tourism secretary, immediately after her election victory last May. It caused resentment among IAS officers and provoked an Opposition outcry.

The Dalit leader’s move, however, was of a piece with her new policy of wooing the upper castes. Singh is a Rajput just as S.C. Mishra, Mayavati’s right-hand-man whom she first made a minister and then a Rajya Sabha MP, is a Brahmin.

Advised that an adverse ruling could be embarrassing, Mayavati got Singh to resign his cabinet rank today and restored chief secretary P.K. Mishra’s status as the state’s top bureaucrat.

“I have accepted his resignation and divested him of the responsibility as head of the state administration. He will not enjoy his cabinet status, either,” Mayavati said.