Govt names Sundareshan as new Petroleum Sec

The government today appointed S Sundareshan as the new Petroleum Secretary.

Sundareshan, who currently is Special Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, will assume office on February 1, official sources said.

He replaces R S Pandey who retires from service after attaining superannuation age of 60 years on January 31.

Sundareshan, 57, will be at the helms of affairs of MoPNG till his retirement on October 31, 2012, unless he is shifted to some other ministry midway.

A 1976 batch IAS officer from the Kerala Cadre, he has held important economic portfolios during his career spanning over three decades.

As the Chairman of Forward Markets Commission during 2005 to 2007, he put in place regulation and structures for the commodities future market and established trading in close to 100 commodities including bullion, metals, crude, fiber and agricultural commodities.

He was appointed Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on April 30, 2007. Prior to that he was Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance (1996-99) and Joint Chief Controller of Imports and Exports, Ministry of Commerce (1990-1993).

A management graduate from UK's University of Leeds, Sundareshan was also Principal Secretary (Revenue) to Government of Kerala (2002-04) and Minister (Economic and Commercial) in the Indian Embassy in Tokyo (1999-2002).