Reshuffle at top bureaucratic level, new telecom secretary appointed

A top level bureaucratic reshuffle was carried out on Friday, with roles of ten secretary level officers being changed.

The changes made include shunting out of telecom secretary Rakesh Garg to minority affairs ministry, and his replacement by J.S. Deepak, who was previously secretary at the department of electronics and information technology, an official statement said.

Garg took over as telecom secretary on July 17, 2014 and is due to retire in November this year.

Deepak, the new telecom secretary, has to his credit the first ever e-auction of spectrum in 2010, which helped the government raise close to Rs 1.067 lakh crore.

The Narendra Modi government entered office with the promise of "maximum governance", and while the much talked about cabinet reshuffle has been pushed away, the bureaucratic movements are being seen as a reflection of the same by top officers.

Senior officials said while most of the appointments were necessitated by retirement of serving secretaries, it also reflects on government's stand on picking the "suitable officials" for the given job.

E-governance specialist Aruna Sharma, a 1982 batch MP cadre IAS officer, who is presently posted in her state, will be the IT secretary replacing Deepak.

Shyam S Agarwal, a 1980 batch officer who is serving as secretary for National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) was appointed secretary of the tribal affairs ministry, replacing Arun Jha, a 1981 batch officer who was appointed secretary of National Commission for Scheduled Castes.

Vinod Agrawal, secretary, National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), has been made secretary, department of empowerment of persons with disabilities and has also been given additional charge of NCST for a period of three months or till the appointment of a regular incumbent, it said.

The decisions were approved by the appointments committee of the union cabinet.