Rajiv Mehrishi appointed new home secretary

The government on Monday appointed Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi as the new union home secretary. He succeeds L.C. Goyal, who took premature voluntary retirement from service.

In a surprising move, instead coming through the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the official statement about the new appointment came from Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

"The prime minister has approved the appointment of Rajiv Mehrishi as union home secretary for a period of two years with effect from August 31," it said.

Later, the home ministry said in a statement: "The appointments committee of the cabinet has approved the acceptance of the request of L.C. Goyal, IAS (KL:79), Home Secretary for voluntarily retiring from service with immediate effect by waiving the notice period, (and) appointment of Rajiv Mehrishi, IAS (RJ:78), Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance as Home Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs for a period of two years from the date of taking over charge as Home Secretary vice L.C. Goyal."