The Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) has failed to find a suitable candidate for the post of Chairman and Managing Director, SJVN Limited at a selection meeting held on December 5, 2025.
The PESB interviewed two candidates for the job following which it did not recommend any candidate for the post and advised the Administrative Ministry or Department to choose an appropriate course of action for selection, including through a search-cum-selection committee (SCSC) or as deemed appropriate with the approval of the competent authority.
Notably, the PESB had invited applications for the top post on September 17, 2025, as the position of CMD at SJVN Limited has been lying vacant since June 20, 2025. In the interim, Bhupender Gupta, CMD of NHPC Limited, has been holding the additional charge of SJVN Limited.
During the selection meeting, the following candidates were interviewed:
Prem Prakash Srivastava, Senior General Manager (HR/A), UP (West) Circle, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited.
Ali Shah, Executive Director (Entity Appraisal-II, Learning & Development and Rajbhasha), Power Finance Corporation Limited.
Senior IAS officer Sudhansh Pant (IAS:1991:RJ), who is currently serving as Secretary in the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, has been given the additional charge of Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
According to an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on Friday (December 5, 2025), the competent authority has approved the assignment of the additional charge to Pant for the period from December 6 to December 16, 2025.
The arrangement has been made during the period of absence on leave of Ranjana Chopra (IAS:1994:OR), who is the regular incumbent Secretary of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
The appointment of former Kerala Chief Secretary K Jayakumar as the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president has got into a legal tangle. Jayakumar’s former colleague, IAS officer B Ashok, has moved the Thiruvananthapuram district court seeking his disqualification on the ground that Jayakumar’s appointment violates Section 7(iii) of the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act.
The petition says that any person holding an office of profit under the government and drawing a government salary is liable for disqualification from serving on the Board.
Ashok contends in his petition that Jayakumar is still continuing as Director of the Institute of Management in Government (IMG), which is a salaried role. Ashok claims to have documentary evidence to support his claim. The petition makes a damaging allegation by saying that his appointment risks making the TDB subservient to government control, harming the interests of Hindus and Sabarimala devotees.
It should be recalled that he was appointed as one of the three members of the TDB with effect from November 14 and was subsequently nominated as its president. Jayakumar had been sworn in on November 15.
The petitioner further argues that the TDB is an autonomous body and that the disqualification provisions exist to safeguard this autonomy. Ashok contends that appointing a legally disqualified candidate undermines the independent functioning of the Board.
After admitting the petition, the district court has issued notices to Jayakumar and others directing them to appear before it on January 15, 2026.
The Bhagwant Mann government in Punjab has granted the No Objection Certificate (NOC) to four IAS officers for the central deputation while denying it to several others. The four officers who have been lucky in getting the NOC are Tejveer Singh (IAS:1994:PB), Dileep Kumar (IAS:1995:PB), Sibin C (IAS:2005:PB) and Varun Roojam (IAS:2004:PB). A government official said that these officers will be getting the posting orders soon.
Those officers who have been denied the NOC include Nilkanth S Avhad (IAS:1999:PB), Alakhnanda Dayal (IAS:2000:PB), Vijay N Zade (IAS:2002:PB). Besides, another officer, Sonali Giri (IAS:2009:PB), too, has been asked to stay put.
This is not all. There are at least four IAS officers who continue to wait for new postings after being transferred from their previous assignments. Some of them have been waiting for posting for last eight months. Gurkirat Kirpal Singh (IAS: 2001:PB) is one such officer. He was removed from the Punjab home secretary’s post on March 24, but he is yet to be assigned any new responsibilities.
Similarly, Puneet Goyal (IAS:2010:PB) was transferred from his position as director of food on February 25, but he has not received a new posting. The same is the case with senior IAS officer AK Sinha (IAS:1996:PB). He was removed as power secretary on November 1, but he has been without posting since then. Similarly, Kanwal Preet Brar(IAS:2007:PB) was removed from Punjab Warehousing Corporation in February and continues to be without posting.
Is Telangana facing a bureaucratic rupture in the state? An inkling of it is coming to the fore with some senior IAS officers, occupying key positions in different departments in the state, reportedly forming an exclusive WhatsApp group to discuss internal matters.
The need to create such a group is causing consternation in a section of bureaucracy as there is a feeling among others that these officers are virtually influencing administrative processes like movement of files, granting approvals, release of funds, etc., based on discussions in this group.
Having closed door discussions on government policies and actions between like-minded officers are not uncommon, but this kind of activities raise doubts. The development is considered crucial as this group has been formed by only those officers who hold crucial posts. A few of them are serving in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) and in departments headed by senior Ministers.
These officers are said to be using this group to share views, advices and wisdom on important matters and a decision is taken after arriving at a consensus on a file, or the release of funds, while other officers and subordinates remain in the dark.
The fact that the members of this core group are predominantly from the North, indicates that officers have split on regional basis. Needless to point out that it has not gone down well with senior officers from various departments who get excluded from important decision-making and policy discussions.
To make matters worse there are reports of a cold war between some ministers and IAS officers and it is being rumoured that this group might try to scuttle the files sent by those ministers. If there is a substance in this apprehension, the issue might lead to a big problem for the state.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on Wednesday (December 3, 2025) ordered promotions and fresh postings of 29 officers in the grades of Additional Commissioner, Joint Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner with immediate effect.
Among the Additional Commissioners, Sherin Angela Someetharan (IRS-C&IT:2009) and Parag Karunakar Singh (IRS-C&IT:2009), have been posted to Thiruvananthapuram and Meerut GST and Central Excise Zones respectively on return from deputation. Rajiv Kumar Singh (IRS-C&IT:2009) been posted to DGPM, Delhi, on promotion.
Anu Agarwal (IRS-C&IT:2010) has been posted to Delhi GST and Central Excise Zone on return from deputation, while Surender Malik (IRS-C&IT:2010) and Komila Punia (IRS-C&IT:2011) have been posted to Panchkula GST and Central Excise Zone on return from deputation. Rajesh Kumar Sahu (IRS-C&IT:2010) has been posted to Chandigarh GST and Central Excise Zone on return from deputation. Sudarshan Meena (IRS-C&IT:2011) has been posted as Director General (Audit), Ahmedabad, on promotion.
At the Joint Commissioner level, Abraham Renn S (IRS-C&IT:2013) has been posted to Bengaluru GST and Central Excise Zone on return from deputation, while Anand Prakash (IRS-C&IT:2013) has been posted to Kolkata GST and Central Excise Zone on return from deputation.
Manudev Jain (IRS-C&IT:2014) has been posted as Director General, Systems and Data Management, Mumbai, on promotion. Sunil Shrivastava (IRS-C&IT:2015) has been posted to Mumbai GST and Central Excise Zone on promotion, while Santosh Kumar (IRS-C&IT:2015) has been posted to Lucknow GST and Central Excise Zone on promotion. Vinuta Mallesha (IRS-C&IT:2015) has been posted to Chennai GST and Central Excise Zone on promotion, while Gawali Jayshree Gunvantrao (IRS-C&IT:2015) has been posted to Jaipur GST and Central Excise Zone on promotion.
Khushboo Ratre (IRS-C&IT:2015) has been posted to Panchkula GST and Central Excise Zone on promotion, while Jawanlal Sonal Subhash (IRS-C&IT:2015) has been posted to Visakhapatnam GST and Central Excise Zone on promotion. Nilay Bunker (IRS-C&IT:2015) has been posted to Meerut GST and Central Excise Zone on promotion, while Wanere Vikram Vijay (IRS-C&IT:2015) has been posted to DGGI, DZU, Delhi, on promotion.
Ankur (IRS-C&IT:2015) has been posted to Pune GST and Central Excise Zone on promotion, while Kalligotta Nagaraju(IRS-C&IT:2015) has been posted to Chennai GST and Central Excise Zone on promotion. Arvind Kumar (IRS-C&IT:2015) has been posted to Bhopal GST and Central Excise Zone on promotion, while Rohit Kumar Bhaisare (IRS-C&IT:2015) has been posted to Kolkata GST and Central Excise Zone on promotion. Varun Kumar Singh (IRS-C&IT:2015) has been posted to Meerut GST and Central Excise Zone on promotion, while Ayush Katheria (IRS-C&IT:2015) has been posted to Chandigarh GST and Central Excise Zone on promotion.
At the Deputy Commissioner level, Naveen Kumar De and Kartikey Dubey, both from the 2016 batch, have been posted to Guwahati and Kolkata GST and Central Excise Zones respectively on return from deputation. Aditya Bhardwaj (IRS-C&IT:2017) has been posted to the Directorate General of Revenue Intelligence (DGRI), Delhi.
At the Assistant Commissioner level, Umesh Mankad (IRS-C&IT:2023) has been posted to Meerut GST and Central Excise Zone on promotion.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on Wednesday (December 3, 2025) ordered the promotion and posting of 10 officers in the grade of Principal Commissioner and Commissioner of Customs and Indirect Taxes with immediate effect.
On promotion as Principal Commissioner, Pradip Kumar Suman (IRS-C&IT:1995) is posted to Chennai North GST and Central Excise, while Harbinder Kaur Prasad (IRS-C&IT:1995) is posted to Kochi GST and Central Excise. S. Anantha Krishnan (IRS-C&IT:1995) is posted as Director General, Systems and Data Management in Delhi, and Upendra Singh Yadav (IRS-C&IT:1995) is posted as Director General, Audit in Mumbai.
On return from deputation, Manjula Dundappa Hosmani (IRS-C&IT:2002) is posted to Chennai-VII Airport Customs. Hari Narayan Meena (IRS-C&IT:2004) is posted to Jodhpur GST and Central Excise on promotion, while Satyabrata Kumar (IRS-C&IT:2004) is posted to the Appeals wing at Siliguri GST and Central Excise following his return from deputation.
Arvind Kumar (IRS-C&IT:2006) is posted to the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), Hyderabad, on return from deputation. Raut Pandurang Kondiram (IRS-C&IT:2006) is posted to Appeals at Thane GST and Central Excise after completing his deputation, while J. Mohammed Navfal (IRS-C&IT:2007) is posted to Audit at Nagpur GST and Central Excise on similar terms.
The government has directed that all the officers shall be relieved immediately and must join at their new place of posting on or before December 15, 2025.
The central deputation tenure of Raghav Langer (IAS:2009:UK) as Secretary in the National Medical Commission (NMC) has been extended by one year.
According to an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on Thursday (December 4, 2025), the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Department of Health and Family Welfare to extend his tenure for a further period of one year beyond October 3, 2025, or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
Raghav Langer has been serving as Secretary, NMC since March 2025. Prior to this, he was posted in the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation from December 2023.
Before his central deputation assignments, he was on inter-cadre deputation to Jammu and Kashmir under the AGMUT cadre from 2018 to 2023.
The Kerala High Court has served contempt notices to five senior IAS officers, including Chief Secretary A Jayathilak, for alleged violation of its order given last year concerning the Agricultural Promotion Fund.
A bench of Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice V M Syam Kumar issued notices to the officers after framing contempt charges. The contempt petition was filed by T N Mukundan, who alleged that the officers had failed to comply with HC’s order dated Nov 28, 2024.
In its order last year, the HC had asked the state govt to deposit Rs 1,510 crore, collected as land regularisation charges from landowners, into the Agricultural Promotion Fund. The petitioner has alleged that although crores of rupees were being collected, not even 3% had been transferred to the Agricultural Promotion Fund.
The court got annoyed at the way its order was ignored, as no review petition was filed within the permissible time and no application seeking extension of time for compliance was submitted. The HC admitted the contempt petition and issued notices to the officers, observing that the respondents were prima facie in contempt of its order.
Besides CS Jayathilak, other senior IAS officers who have been issued notices include Arvind Srivastava, the then revenue secretary; Keshvendra Kumar, the then finance secretary; Tinku Biswal, the then agricultural production commissioner; and Arjun Pandian, the then land revenue commissioner.
The matter will come up for hearing on Jan 5 next year.
Senior bureaucrat Aparna Garg, a 1987-batch officer of the Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS), assumed charge as Member (Finance) of the Railway Board on 1 December 2025.
With more than 36 years of experience in railway finance and administration, she has served across several key zones including Western, Southern and South Western Railways. Over the years, she has handled a wide range of responsibilities in budgeting, project financing, infrastructure management, information technology systems and human resource administration.
Before assuming charge as Member (Finance), Smt. Garg has been serving as Director General of the Indian Railways Institute of Financial Management since 2024, where she has been leading training and capacity-building initiatives for railway finance officers. Prior to this, she served as Principal Financial Adviser at the Rail Wheel Factory from 2021 to 2024. Earlier in her career, she also held charge as Divisional Railway Manager, Mysore, and Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Bangalore.
Her previous assignments also include roles as Senior Information Technology Manager, Member Secretary of the Railway Recruitment Board and Financial Advisor and Chief Accounts Officer in multiple departments.
Smt. Garg is a Chevening Fellow and holds an Advanced Master’s degree in Transport Economics from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom. She has also undergone professional training at institutions including SDA Bocconi, INSEAD Singapore, Indian School of Business Hyderabad and ICLIF Malaysia.
As Member (Finance), she will oversee financial strategy, budget management, expenditure control and revenue planning for the Indian Railways. Her appointment comes at a time when the national transporter is pushing major capital expansion and modernization programmes.
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