Centre effects secretary-level reshuffle; RK Singh named new defence secy

Minority Affairs Secretary Katikithala Srinivas to be next Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary

In the first major bureaucratic reshuffle in its third term in office, the Narendra Modi government on Friday appointed new expenditure, banking, corporate affairs and defence secretaries, among others.

Secretary in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and 1991 MP-cadre civil servant Manoj Govil has been appointed as the secretary in the department of expenditure in the Ministry of Finance. The Appointment Committee of Cabinet (ACC) also approved the appointment of Nagaraju Maddirala, 1993-batch IAS officer of Tripura cadre, as the new secretary in the Department of Financial Services (DFS). Maddirala will replace current DFS secretary and 1989-batch Haryana-cadre IAS officer Vivek Joshi, who has been moved to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) as its secretary.

The position of expenditure secretary became vacant after 1987-batch Tamil Nadu-cadre IAS officer TV Somanathan, the current finance secretary and expenditure secretary, was made the next cabinet secretary. Somanathan, a veteran bureaucrat, would take over India’s top bureaucratic position from August 30, when incumbent Rajiv Gauba’s extended tenure ends.

MP-cadre IAS officer of 1993 batch Deepti Gaur Mukherjee, who is presently the chief executive officer of National Health Authority, will be the new MCA secretary. ACC has also approved the appointment of Kerala-cadre 1991-batch IAS officer RK Singh as the new defence secretary. K Srinivas, a 1989-batch Gujarat-cadre officer, has been appointed as the secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs from his current posting as the minority affairs secretary.

The government also appointed Punya Salila Srivastava as the next health secretary. Salila will take charge of the position after the retirement of Apurva Chandra, the present health secretary, on September 30, 2024.

Sanjeev Kumar, a 1993-batch Maharashtra-cadre officer, who is the present chairman of the Airports Authority of India, has been appointed as the secretary, Department of Defence Production.