3 officers recommended for joint secretaries’ post

NEW DELHI:THE defence ministry has forwarded names of three 2-star ranked officers to the government for appointment as joint secretaries in the newly constituted department of military affairs, two officials said on Wednesday.

The government’s approval to post a major general, an air vice marshal and a rear admiral to the department, which will be headed by chief of defence staff General Bipin Rawat, is expected soon, one of the officials cited above said.

At the time of its creation, the government had announced that the department would be staffed by a mix of civilian and military officers.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet had last month cleared the appointment of two joint secretaries. Rajeev Singh Thakur, a 1995 batch IAS officer from Rajasthan cadre, and Shantanu, a 1997 batch officer from Tripura cadre, were been posted to the DMA. Their appointments were among the 31 joint secretary-level postings approved by the committee.

Apart from the two joint secretaries, the department will be staffed with two 13 deputy secretaries, 25 under secretaries, 22 section officers and a support staff of around 100 people.

The department is an addition to the four existing verticals in the defence ministry -the departments of defence, defence production, defence research and development and ex-service welfare.

As chief of defence staff, Rawat not only heads the DMA but is also the principal military adviser to the defence minister on all matters related to the triservices.

He took over as the country’s first CDS on December 31.