TRAI chief Ram Sewak gets 2-yr extension
Babus shuffled
NEW DELHI: Ram Sewak Sharma was on Thursday given two-year extension as the chief of the telecom regulator TRAI, according to an official order.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the reappointment of Sharma as chairperson of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for a further period beyond August 10, 2018, up to September 30, 2020.
The 1978 batch IAS officer, has dealt with technology-related programmes of the government in various departments. Significantly, he helped out in writing the first version of the software used for Aadhaar enrolment, while he joined the Unique Identification Authority of India in 2009 as DG and mission director during UPA regime.
Centre has also carried out a major administrative and bureaucratic reshuffle, where another West Bengal cadre IAS officer, of the1983 batch, Raghavendra Singh has been appointed as the new Secretary of the Ministry of Textiles, and his predecessor and 1984 batch IAS officer of UP cadre Anant Kumar Singh has been transferred to the Department of Land Resources.
A Punjab-cadre IAS of 1985 batch, Arun Goel has been appointed as the new Secretary of Ministry of Culture, who was earlier the vice-chairman of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). He was also the Joint Secretary, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance (since June 2012) and later was promoted as Additional Secretary in DDA.
The central deputation tenure of Mohammad Zakir Hussain, working as Director in the Department of Heavy Industry has been extended for one year beyond October 20, 2018. He is a 1999 batch ITS officer.
Besides, the Director General (DG) of Bureau of Outreach and Communication (BOC) and Indian Information Service officer Ghanshyam Goel has been appointed the new DG of Press Information Bureau (PIB). Goel will report to the Principal Director General of PIB Sitanshu Kar.
Another senior IIS officer and Director General, Doordarshan News, Ira Joshi has been appointed as DG of News Services Division, All India Radio. IIS officer M K Agarwal, the DG, PIB, Patna, has been named the new Director General of DD News.
Furthermore, IIS officer, 1989 batch, Satyendra Prakash has been promoted as Director General of Bureau of Outreach Communication (BOC).
Pramod Kumar Das- a1986 batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, has been empanelled for a secretary-level posting.
However, not a single IAS officer of 2001 batch from seven states could be empanelled as joint secretaries. These states are - MP, West Bengal, Tripura, Sikkim, Kerala, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand cadres.