New def secy named in bureaucratic rejig
NEW DELHI: The Centre on Wednesday appointed road transport and highways secretary, Aramane Giridhar, as the defence secretary as part of its top-level bureaucratic reshuffle in various crucial ministries.
The government has also approved in-situ upgradation of eight officers as special secretaries in their current postings, while empanelling 19 others from 1997 batch to take over as additional secretaries, or their equivalent.
Giridhar has been appointed as an Officer on Special Duty in the department of defence and will take charge on October 31, 2022, a Personnel Ministry order said. Alka Upadhyaya, chairperson of the National Highways Authority of India, will replace Giridhar in the transport ministry.
Another crucial appointment is that of Vivek Joshi, the Registrar General of India and Census commissioner in the ministry of home affairs, who will take over as the secretary of the department of financial services in the finance ministry.
Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, additional secretary in the home ministry, will be the new Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner in place of Joshi. He will be tasked with completing the census exercise in the country, pending because of the pandemic.
Rural development secretary Nagendra Nath Sinha has been named as the new steel secretary. He will take charge on December 31, 2022.
Amrit Lal Meena, who is currently special secretary (logistics), Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade, will be the new coal secretary.
The appointments include that of Sanjay Malhotra, the current secretary in the Department of Financial Services. He will take over as the revenue secretary.
Bhupinder Singh Bhalla, the chairperson of the New Delhi Municipal Council, will be the new and renewable energy secretary.
Youth affairs secretary Sanjay Kumar will be the new secretary of the Department of School Education & Literacy. Sanjeev Chopra has been named as secretary of the Department of Food and Public Distribution.
Meeta R Lochan, Member Secretary in the National Commission for Women, will be the new Youth Affairs Secretary.