Bureaucratic reshuffle: Centre rejigs senior officials, appoints 31 at Joint Secretary level

New Delhi: In a major rejig, the Centre has approved the appointment of 31 senior civil servants at the Joint Secretary (JS) level or its equivalent, including IAS officer Bharat H Khera as Joint Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat.

The Cabinet Committee on Appointments, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday (January 20) took the decision in this regard, a Ministry of Personnel order said.

Of the 31 officers, 20 are from the Indian Administrative Service; two each from the Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA&AS), Central Secretariat Service (CSS) and Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS); and one each from the Indian Postal Service (IPoS), Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS), Indian Forest Service (IFoS), Indian Civil Account Service (ICAS) and Indian Defence Estate Service (IDES).

Khera, a 1995-batch Himachal Pradesh cadre IAS officer, will become Joint Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat from the date he assumes charge of the post, for a combined tenure of seven years or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

He replaces Chandra Shekhar Kumar, a 1992-batch Odisha cadre officer, who was appointed to the post in January last year for five years.

Ashok Kumar Parmar, a 1992-batch Jammu and Kashmir cadre officer, was appointed Advisor (JS level), Inter-State Council Secretariat under the Ministry of Home Affairs, by downgrading a vacant post of Advisor, vice R. Rajagopal, a 1982-batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer.

Ashutosh Agnihotri, a 1999-cadre Assam cadre IAS officer, will be Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, for a tenure of five years, vice SCL Das, a 1992-batch Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizorama Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre officer.

Shantanu, a 1997-batch Tripura cadre lAS officer, was appointed Joint Secretary, Department of Military Affairs, for an overall tenure of five years or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

Rajeev Singh Thakur, a 1995-batch Rajasthan cadre lAS official, will be Joint Secretary, Department of Military Affairs for an overall tenure of five years or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

Vimalendra Anand Patwardhan, a 1996-batch IA&AS official, will function as Joint Secretary and Financial Advisor in the Ministry of Civil Aviation for a combined tenure of seven years or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

Patwardhan would replace Arun Kumar, a 1989-batch Haryana cadre lAS officer who was last year appointed Director-General in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

Nagaraju Maddirala, a 1993-batch Tripura cadre lAS officer, will be Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Coal from the date of assumption of charge for five years or until further orders, whichever is earlier, replacing Ashish Upadhyay, a 1989-batch Madhya Pradesh cadre lAS officer.

S. Suresh Kumar, IAS, (AP:2000), will be Joint Secretary in the Department of Commerce for a combined tenure of seven years, replacing Rajneesh, an IAS officer of the 1997-batch of the Himachal cadre.

Vineet Mathur, a 1994-batch IPoS official, has been appointed Joint Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, for a tenure of five years by upgrading a vacant post of Director and to be adjusted against the next likely vacancy of JS in the department.

Sanjukta Mudgal, a 1990-batch IFoS officer, will be Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture, for a tenure up to her superannuation on March 31, 2024 or until further orders, whichever is earlier, vice Pranav Khullar, IP&TA&FS (1993 batch).

Puneet Agarwal, IAS (TR:1998), will be Joint Secretary, Department of Defence Production, from the date of assumption of the charge of the post, for a tenure of five years or until further orders, whichever is earlier, vice Shantanu, lAS (TR:97).

Vishal Gagan, lAS (1998), will be Joint Secretary, Department of Defence, from the date of assumption of charge of the post, for a tenure of five years or until further orders, whichever is earlier, vice Bharat H. Khera.

Others appointed to the Joint Secretary-level posts in different departments include Subodh Kumar Singh, Nipun Vinayak, Padmaja Singh, Chandra Shekhar Kumar, Ashok Kumar Parmar, Ashutosh Agnihotri, Pravash P. Pandey, Shantanu, Rajeev S. Thakur, R.K. Khandelwal, Meenakshi Jolly, Meena Balimane Sharma, Tanmay Kumar, Manoj Sahay, Ashish Kumar Goel, Santosh Kumar Yadav, Balachandra Subramoney Iyer, Hari Ranjan Rao, Rakesh Kumar Verma, Subodh Yadav, Vinayan J., Ashok Kumar Singh and Manoj Sethi.