Ashok Lavasa to be next expenditure secretary

Lavasa, a 1980 batch IAS officer from the Haryana cadre, will take over the expenditure department from Ratan Watal

The government initiated a major senior bureaucratic reshuffle when it announced 13 new appointments on Tuesday, including that of Environment Secretary Ashok Lavasa as Expenditure Secretary due to the retirement of Finance Secretary Ratan Watal.

Lavasa, a 1980 batch IAS officer from the Haryana cadre, will take over the expenditure department from Watal, a 1978 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre officer, who retires on Saturday. Lavasa will be replaced at environment by Ajay Narayan Jha, a 1982 batch Manipur cadre officer, currently special secretary in the expenditure department.

Watal has been expenditure secretary since December 2013 and became finance secretary in August last year. He was due to retire on February 29 but as the government was in the middle of the budget-making process for 2016-17, his tenure was extended by two months.

Shaktikanta Das, economic affairs secretary, is seniormost after Watal among all finance ministry officials. He is expected to be designated the finance secretary. The designation traditionally goes to the most senior among the five secretaries heading economic affairs, expenditure, revenue, financial services and disinvestment. Das is a 1980 batch Tamil Nadu cadre officer.

Usually, a secretary coming from another ministry is first made Officer on Special Duty, to get acquainted with various matters from the incumbent secretary. No such provision was made in Lavasa’s case and he will have to hit the ground running at a time when the Finance Bill is yet to be passed in the Lok Sabha.

Other major appointments include that of Ajay Mittal a 1982 batch Himachal Pradesh officer as information and broadcasting secretary upon the retirement of incumbent Sunil Arora. And, Snehlata Shrivastava, a 1982 batch officer and currently special secretary, financial services, as secretary, justice department, in the law ministry.

Hem Kumar Pande, secretary, department of official languages, will become secretary, consumer affairs. Vijay Shankar Pandey, the secretary, chemicals,  will become secretary, fertiliser, in a direct switching of roles with Anuj Kumar Bishnoi, who will go the other way.