Major bureaucratic rejig: 21 senior officers appointed in various Central ministries, departments

NEW DELHI: In a major bureaucratic reshuffle, the government on Monday announced the appointment of 21 senior officers to various Central ministries and departments.

In an order, the government said that the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Anurag Agarwal, a 1990-batch Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer from the Punjab cadre as Additional Secretary and Financial Adviser, Ministry of External Affairs.

Rupinder Brar, a 1990-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, currently in the Income Tax, has been appointed as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Coal while Deepti Gaur Mukherjee, a 1993-batch IAS from the Madhya Pradesh cadre, has been appointed as Additional Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare.

The ACC order said that Amit Kumar Ghosh, a 1994-batch IAS officr from Uttar Pradesh cadre, currently working as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has been transferred to the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment as Additional Secretary by temporarily upgrading a vacant post of Joint Secretary in the Department while Niraj Verma, a 1994 batch IAS officer from the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, currently working as Administrator, has been shifted to the Universal Service Obligation Fund, Department of Telecommunications in the rank and pay of Additional Secretary.

Pallavi Jain Govil, a 1994-batch IAS officer from the Madhya Pradesh cadre, has been appointed as Director General of Hydrocarbons, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, in the rank and pay of Additional Secretary and Sudeep Jam, a 1994-batch IAS officer from the Tamil Nadu cadre, has been appointed as Additional Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

Other appointments by the ACC included of Abhishek Singh, a 1995-batch IAS officer from the Nagaland cadre as the Chief Executive Officer, National e-Governance Division, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

Singh will continue to hold the additional charge of the post of Chief Executive Officer, Karmayogi Bharat.

Shakil P. Ahamed, a 1995-batch IAS officer from the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, has been appointed as Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor, Ministry of Textiles while Hitesh Kumar S. Makwana, a 1995-batch IAS officer from the Tamil Nadu cadre, currently working as Additional Secretary, Department of Home, Ministry of Home Affairs has been made the Surveyor General of India, Survey of India, Department of Science and Technology in the rank and pay of Additional Secretary by keeping the Recruitment Rules for the post in abeyance.

Meanwhile, Gitanjali Gupta, a 1996-batch IAS officer from the Union Territories cadre or AGMUT and currently serving as Managing Director, Tribal Co-operative Marketing Development Federation of India, Ministry of Tribal Affairs has been appointed as Additional Secretary, NITI Aayog and Caralyn Khongwar Deshmukh, a 1996-batch lAS officer from the Madhya Pradesh cadre, has been appointed as Additional Secretary, Department of Rural Development.

Ritvik Ranjanam Pandey, a 1998-batch IAS officer from the Karnataka cadre and currently serving as Joint Secretary, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance has been appointed as Officer on Special Duty for Advance Cell of 16th Finance Commission, Department of Economic Affairs in the rank and pay of Additional Secretary by temporarily upgrading a vacant post of Deputy Secretary or Director in the Department while Rajeev Kumar Mital, a 1998-batch IAS officer from the Maharashtra cadre, has been appointed as Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor, Department of Atomic Energy.

Srikant Nagulapalli, a 1998-batch IAS officer from the Andhra Pradesh cadre, currently serving as Joint Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat has been appointed as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Power and Rahul Sharma, a 1998-batch IAS officer from the Jharkhand cadre, currently serving as Joint Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH has been appointed as Additional Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat.

Manmeet Kaur Nanda, a 2000-batch lAS officer from the West Bengal cadre, currently serving as Joint Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, has been appointed as Joint Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat.

The order also said that the ACC also approved the in-situ upgradation of the following officers to the level of Additional Secretary to the Government of India as a measure personal to them by temporarily upgrading the posts held by them.

Aneeta C. Meshram, a 1996-batch lAS officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre, currently serving as Joint Secretary, Department of Fertilizers as Additional Secretary, Department of Fertilizers, while Pankaj Kumar Bansal, a 1997-batch lAS officer from the Tamil Nadu cadre, currently working as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation.

Vishal Chauhan, a 1998 batch lAS officer from the Sikkim cadre and currently serving as Member (Admin) in the National Highways Authority of India has been elevated in same post in the rank and pay of Additional Secretary while Akash Tripathi, a 1998-batch IAS officer and currently working as CEO, MyGov, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology as CEO, MyGov, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in the rank and pay of Additional Secretary.