Appointment Committee of Cabinet appoints 11 new secretaries to govt depts

The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet has appointed 11 new secretaries to various government departments.

Environment secretary Ajay Narayan Jha will succeed Ashok Lavasa as the secretary in the expenditure department in the Finance Ministry.

An IAS officer of the 1982 Manipur-Tripura cadre, Jha will immediately take charge as secretary after Lavasa retires later in October.

Health and Family Welfare Secretary C K Mishra will replace Jha as the new secretary in charge of environment, forests and climate change.

The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet also appointed Sports Secretary Injeti Srinivas as the new corporate affairs secretary in the Finance Ministry.

Gopal Krishna, serving in his home cadre of West Bengal, has been appointed as the Shipping Secretary while Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS officer Rahul Prasad Bhatnagar will be the new Sports Secretary.

Preeti Sudan, Secretary of Department of Food and Public Distribution, has been assigned the charge of health and family welfare.

Current Shipping Secretary Ravi Kant will take up her role in the Food Ministry.

Alok Shrivastava, currently Special Secretary in the Shipping Ministry, has been appointed as the new secretary in the Department of Justice.

Other cabinet secretary appointments include K.V. Eapen (Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances and Pensions and Pensioners' Welfare), Shakuntala Gamlin (Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities) and Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha (AYUSH Ministry).