ED creates new post of Principal Special Director; Dash appointed

Simanchala Dash, former private secretary to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, was today appointed to the newly-created post of Principal Special Director in the Enforcement Directorate.

The appointment of Dash, an Indian Revenue Service officer of 1988 batch, was cleared by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) today, according to an official order.

It said that the ACC has approved the proposal, based on the recommendation of the Selection Committee, for appointment of Dash to the post of Principal Special Director of Enforcement.

Dash served as private secretary to the finance minister till July 2017 before he was shifted to Income Tax department.

He will have a tenure of two years from the date of assumption of charge.

The order said that the remainder of his current cooling-off period, which is up to May, 2020, will commence after completion of his new assignment.

Every all India service officer is sent back to the cadre after successful completion of his or her tenure at the Centre. The officer can apply again for central deputation only after completion of the cooling-off period which varies from three to five years.

The ED has a sanctioned strength for six Special Directors out of which five -- K R Uday Bhaskar (South), Yogesh Gupta (East), Sanjay Shrinet (North), D K Gupta (Administration and Coordination at the headquarters) and and Vineet Agarwal (West), are already filled.

The organisation, which was set up in 1956, had never had the post of Principal Special Director and it was likely that Dash would be coordinating on various important cases being handled by the Directorate, some officials felt.

The organisation is being headed by Karnal Singh, an IPS officer of 1984 batch from the Union Territory cadre.