Jaishankar to remain Foreign Secretary for another year
NEW DELHI: In an unprecedented move, Foreign Secretary Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will be serving for another year as the Government on Monday announced to give him a year's extension.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet issued the order on Monday announcing Dr. Jaishankar's extended tenure - from Jan 29, 2017 to Jan 28, 2018. He is the first foreign secretary to get an extension.
The 1977-batch IFS officer was appointed on January 29, 2015—just two days before he was to retire in a dramatic fashion after his predecessor was shown the door before her term.
Functionaries in the MEA are not surprised by the extension of his tenure. The 61-year-old Foreign Secretary has come out to be very "surefooted" in his working indicating Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval's full confidence in him. In fact the buzz in the MEA has been, "Come Sunday (Jan 29) and Jaishankar will take over from Jaishankar".
However, his extension has spelled bad news for other senior diplomats, who will be superannuating without being considered for the top slot. India’s ambassador to Italy Anil Wadhwa, MEA's Secretary (West) Sujata Mehta, Indian ambassador to the US Navtej Sarna, Secretary (Economic Relations) Amar Sinha, and Director-General of the ICCR Amrendra Khatua are the few senior diplomats due to retire this year without being considered for the post of Foreign Secretary.