Officer on Special Dispensation?

The Prime Minister's Office may have carefully tracked the appointment of personal secretaries to ministers, resolutely vetoing those who had served in the earlier government. But it appears to be more relaxed when it comes to the appointment of Officers on Special Duty (OSD) to ministers. Thus, on Wednesday last week, a press release was issued announcing the appointment of Utsav Mitra as OSD to Piyush Goyal, minister of coal, power and renewable energy with effect from July 10. This would hardly have been notable but for the fact that the 27-year-old Mitra has been functioning as Goyal's OSD from the day the latter took charge of the three key energy portfolios in May. In fact, Mitra admitted as much in his Twitter entry two months ago when he declared: "OSD to Minister of Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy; Alumnus of Bain Capital PE and McKinsey | Working towards a strong, prosperous and confident India". So how does he or the government explain the two-month gap between his informal and formal appointment?