Modi govt kicks off secy-level appointments

In the first secretary-level appointments by the Narendra Modi government, Rakesh Garg was on Sunday named the new telecom secretary while Jugal Kishore Mohapatra is to be secretary in the fertilisers ministry.

Ahead of his departure for Brazil for the BRICS summit, Prime Minister Modi cleared fresh appointments for various ministries.

Garg, a 1980 batch IAS officer, is currently principal secretary in Uttar Pradesh.

Garg's appointment comes within two weeks after M F Farooqui retired as the DoT secretary on June 30 after holding the post for 15 months. Following Farooqui's retirement, the Ram Sewak Sharma, secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, was given the additional charge of DoT for three months or till the appointment of a new secretary.

During his central deputation, Garg had worked as additional secretary in the tourism ministry and joint secretary in the Department of Food & Public Distribution.

Mohapatra, a 1979-batch Odisha cadre IAS officer, is currently serving as the chief secretary in Odisha. Mohapatra will succeed Shaktikanta Das, who moved to the revenue department last month.

Rajan Katoch will become the heavy industries secretary and S K Panda will take over as secretary in the textiles ministry. Katoch, a 1979 batch IAS officer and serving as enforcement director, would replace S Behuria, who retires on July 31. Panda, a 1980 batch IAS officer, would succeed Zohra Chatterji, who retires at the end of this month.

Katoch will also look after the duties of the post of enforcement director in addition to the charge of heavy industries secretary for six months or till the appointment of a regular incumbent, according to the official order.

N Ravi Shanker, a 1980 batch IAS officer and currently the administrator of Universal Service Obligation Fund of the DoT, will become secretary in the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances and secretary, Department of Pensions and Pensioners' Welfare.