NEW DELHI: In a key senior-level bureaucratic reshuffle, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on Tuesday approved the appointment of Bihar cadre-IAS officer Chanchal Kumar, among other IAS officers as Secretaries, additional secretaries and DGs to different departments with immediate effect.
Chanchal Kumar, a 1992-batch IAS officer, has now been appointed as secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. He is currently serving as secretary in the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER). Kumar will replace the incumbent secretary of I&B Sanjay Jaju, whose new assignment will be in the same capacity in the DoNER Ministry.
Earlier in Bihar's posting, Kumar had served as the principal secretary in CM Nitish Kumar’s office, besides holding other key posts in Bihar.
Another Bihar cadre IAS officer of the 2001 batch, Sridhar Chiruvolu, working as joint secretary in the PMO, has now been made additional secretary in the same office.
Diwakar Nath Mishra, additional secretary, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, will be an additional secretary in the Ministry of Power. The centre also transferred Vir Vikram Yadav IAS, currently working as an additional secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate changes and posted him as Director General, Directorates General of Civil Aviation.
He will replace Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, current director general (DG), Directorates General of Civil Aviation, under the Ministry of Civil Aviation as additional secretary in the Department of Personnel and Training under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
Puneet Kansal, presently in the cadre, has been appointed as additional secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, by temporarily upgrading a vacant post of Joint Secretary in the ministry.
Similarly, Mona K Khandar, also presently in the cadre, has been appointed as Additional Secretary, Department of Social Justice & Empowerment, under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
Gyanendra D Tripathi, presently in the cadre, has also been appointed as additional secretary, Department of Agriculture Research & Education and as secretary, India Council of Agriculture Research under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
Vishal Gagan, presently in the cadre, has also been appointed secretary, Central Information Commission.
In another move, the Centre has appointed N Gulzar, additional secretary, Department of Telecommunication as new member secretary in the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in the rank and pay of additional secretary to the Government of India.
According to an official order, Sanjay Lohiya, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Mines, has been appointed as Special Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, taking over as Secretary, Department of Financial Services, after the superannuation of incumbent Nagaraju Maddirala on May 31.
Another IAS officer, Abhishek Singh, currently working as Director General, of the National Informatics Centre(NIC), has been appointed as Director General, National Testing Agency, which is under the Ministry of Education. Singh is a 1995 batch IAS officer of the Nagaland cadre.
The Centre has also appointed current Tourism Secretary Srivatsa Krishna as new Secretary in the Ministry of Minority Affairs, replacing Chandra Sekhar Kumar. Chandra Sekhar Kumar has also been transferred as Chief Executive Officer in the National Rainfed Area Authority, which functions under the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare.
According to an official order, Bhuvnesh Kumar, current Chief Executive Officer, Unique Identification Authority of India under the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, has been appointed as the new Tourism Secretary in place of Chandra Sekhar Singh.
Rohit Kansal, currently working as additional secretary in the Ministry of Textiles is appointed as the Secretary with the Department of Rural Development.
Among other IAS officers reshuffled on Tuesday, Narendra Bhooshan, a 1992 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, has now been appointed as Secretary, Department of Land Resources. Tejveer Singh, a 1994 batch IAS officer of Punjab cadre has been appointed as the new secretary in the Department of Chemicals and Petro-Chemicals in place of Nivedita Shukla Verma.
Verma has been transferred and appointed as Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances. She has also been given an additional charge of the post of Secretary in the Department of Pensions and Pensioners Welfare.
Besides these senior bureaucrats of different state cadres, the Centre has approved the appointement of Bharat Harbanslal Khera, Additional Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs as Officer on Special Duty, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
The officer will take over as Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises after the superannuation of Subhas Chandra Lal Das on April 30, the order said.