Govt appoints OSD to Smriti Irani, Pvt Secy to Javadekar

The government on Monday appointed an officer on special duty and a private secretary respectively for Union ministers Smriti Irani and Prakash Javadekar.

The two appointments were cleared by Appointments Committee of the Cabinet in its meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

K M Mahesh, a 2003-batch IRS officer has been appointed as private secretary to Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar, the Department of Personnel and Training said in an official order.

Mahesh will be functioning as the minister's PS in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for a period up to October 19, 2020, the order said, adding the IRS officer was given the new assignment after curtailment of his tenure as a director in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas under the Central Staffing Scheme.

In a separate order, the ACC appointed Shah Devanshi Viren as officer on special duty to Textile Minister Smriti Zubin Irani in the Ministry of Textiles for a period of five years.

Viren's tenure will be counted from the date of assumption of the charge and will be co-terminus with the minister's tenure, the order said.