In a significant development, the Union government on Tuesday (12.11.2024) appointed IPS officer SP Singh (IPS:1995:HP), Additional Secretary in the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry (MoHUA), as Acting Director General of Central Public Works Department (CPWD) for six months. He will hold this additional charge with his current duties. The post had remained vacant since October 31, when incumbent Rajesh Kumar Kaushal retired. For 11 days, the Ministry had not either appointed a new DG nor assigned additional charge of the post to another senior officer, which is unusual.
The appointment of an officer from outside the CPWD, instead of the engineers and architects who have risen through the ranks of the organisation, is rare and could have been a first in the over 170-year history of the department.
