Cabinet approves appointments of secretaries

The Union Cabinet has approved the appointments of 12 senior bureaucrats as secretaries in different ministries while also approving the in-situ upgradation of 12 others to the level of Special Secretary in the rank and pay.

The Appointments Committee of the Centre (ACC) made the appointments.

IAS Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Secretary, Ministry of Power is appointed as Officer on Special Duty in the Ministry of Home Affairs with immediate effect whereas IAS Subhash Chandra Garg, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, appointed as Ministry of Finance as Secretary, Ministry of Power.

The ACC also approved the appointment of Anuradha Mitra, Member (Finance), Digital Communications, Department of Telecommunications, as Secretary, Department of Official Language, Ministry of Home Affairs against existing vacancy.

It has also ordered for the appointment of Atanu Chakraborty, Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, Ministry of Finance as Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance.

Anshu Prakash, IAS, Additional Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications has been appointed Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications whereas Anil Kumar Khachi, IAS, presently in the cadre, as Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, Ministry of Finance.

As per the order R. S. Shukla, IAS presently in the cadre is appointed as Secretary, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs against existing vacancy, G. V. Venugopala Sarma, presently in the cadre, as Member Secretary, National Disaster Management Authority in the rank and pay of Secretary by temporarily upgrading the post.

Guruprasad Mohapatra, Chairman, Airports Authority of India, Ministry of Civil Aviation is appointed as Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce & Industry

Furthermore, IAS Ravi Capoor is appointed as Secretary, Ministry of Textiles against existing vacancy along with Atul Chaturvedi being designated on the post of Secretary in Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying.

Senior IAS P.O. Vaghela, presently in the cadre is also appointed as Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers against an existing vacancy.

Apart from these appointments, the ACC has further approved in-situ upgradation of the many officers to the level of Special Secretary in the rank and pay of Secretary to the Government of India.

These officials include Anil Kumar Jain being appointed as Special Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate.

S.P. Singh Parihar, Chairman, Central Pollution Control Board is designated as Chairman, Central Pollution Control Board, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in the rank and pay of Secretary.

The other officials who have been upgraded to the level of the special secretary include Rakesh Kumar Gupta, Subash Chandra, Alok Vardhan Chaturvedi, Sanjeev Nandan Sahai, Shambhu Singh, Ravi Mittal, Pramod Kumar Das, Satbir Bedi, Sanjeeva Kumar and Umesh Sinha.