Centre effects major Secretary rank reshuffle; Khandekar is DoPT Secretary, B B Swain gets MSME

The Modi government, on Saturday, cleared the appointment and reshuffle of Secretary level posts in various departments and ministries. Officers appointed, laterally shifted and promoted in the rank and pay of Secretary (GoI).

1. Deepak Khandekar (IAS:1985:MP) has been appointed as Secretary, Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Presently, he is working as Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
2. Upendra Prasad Singh (IAS:1985:OR) has been appointed as Secretary, Ministry of Textiles. Presently, he is serving as Secretary, Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti.
3. Rajesh Kumar Chaturvedi (IAS:1987:MP) has been appointed as Secretary, Department of Fertilizers, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers. Presently, he is Secretary, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals.
4. Yogendra Tripathy (IAS:1985:KN) has been appointed as Secretary, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers vice Rajesh Kumar Chaturvedi (IAS:1987:MP). Presently, he is serving as Secretary, Ministry of Tourism.
5. Alok Tandon (IAS:1986:UP) has been appointed as Secretary, Ministry of Mines. Presently, he is posted in the cadre.
6. G V Venugopala Sarma (IAS:1986:OR) has been appointed as Chairman, National Authority, Chemical Weapons Convention,
   in the rank and pay of Secretary to the Government of India. Presently, he is Member Secretary, National Disaster Management Authority, Ministry of Home Affairs.
7. Pankaj Kumar (IAS:1987:NL) has been appointed as Secretary, Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation (Ministry of Jal Shakti) vice Upendra Prasad Singh (IAS:1985:OR). Presently, he is working as Chief Executive Officer, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
8. Otem Dai (IAS:1987:TN) has been appointed as Secretary, Central Vigilance Commission in the rank and pay of Secretary (GoI) by temporarily upgrading the post to Secretary level. Presently, he is posted in the cadre.
9. Alok Kumar I (IAS:1988:UP) has been appointed as Secretary, Ministry of Power. He replaces Sanjeev Nandan Sahai (IAS:1986:UT) retiring this month. Presently, he is posted in the cadre.
10. Bidyut Bihari Swain (IAS:1988:GJ) has been appointed as Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME). Presently, he is serving as Special Secretary, Department of Commerce.
11. Praveen Kr. Srivastava (IAS:1988:AM) has been appointed as Secretary (Coordination), Cabinet Secretariat vice Dr V P Joy (IAS:1987:KL). Presently, he is serving as Special Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs.
12. Arvind Singh (IAS:1988:MH) has been appointed as Secretary, Ministry of Tourism vice Yogendra Tripathy (IAS:1985:KN). Presently, he is Chairman, Airports Authority of India.
13. Ms. Alka Tiwari (IAS:1988:JH) has been appointed as Secretary, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) in the rank and pay of Secretary (GoI). Presently, she is Additional Secretary and Financial Adviser, Department of Fertilizers, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.

Further, the ACC has approved in-situ upgradation of a total of 05 IAS officers to the level of special secretary in the rank and pay of secretary by temporarily upgrading the posts held by them in their respective ministries/departments.

1. Praveen Garg (IAS:1988:MP) is now Special Secretary and Financial Adviser, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC).
2. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu (IAS:1988:UK) Chairman, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), has been promoted in the rank and pay of Secretary by restoring the post to the Secretary level.
3. Ms. Anjali Bhawara (IAS:1988:PB) has been promoted as Special Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MoCA) by temporarily upgrading the post of Additional Secretary (MoCA) held by her.
4. Jatindra Nath Swain (lAS:1988:TN), MD, Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd, has been promoted in the rank and pay of Secretary by temporarily upgrading the post.
5. Anil Kumar Jha (IAS:1988:KN) has been promoted as Special Secretary, Department of Revenue in the Ministry of Finance, by temporarily upgrading the Additional Secretary post held by him.