Health Secy gets 3-month more; Food Secy shunted; Amit Khare new I&B Secy

New Delhi: In a major bureaucratic reshuffle that too in the midst of ongoing national lockdown, Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan, who was due to superannuate this month-end, was on Sunday given a three-month extension in service, while Food Secretary Ravi Kant, who faced the ire of states over substandard food grains, shifted to the least important Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare as its secretary.

In a related development, senior IAS officer Amit Khare has been given the additional charge of secretary of Information & Broadcasting Ministry. Khare would also hold the charge of Higher Education Secretary.

Tarun Kapoor, the Vice Chairman of Delhi Development Authority (DDA), has been appointed Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in place of MM Kutty, who superannuates this month-end.

Tarun Bajaj, Additional Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office, has been appointed as Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs.

Pradip Kumar Tripathi, Special Secretary and Establishment Officer in the Department of Personnel and Training, will be Secretary in the Ministry of Steel.

CBSE chairperson Anita Karwal has been appointed as the Secretary, Department of Education and Literacy. She is a 1988-batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre. Notably, CBSE paper was leaked during the tenure of Karwal.

In other secretary-level reshuffle, Rural Development Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has been appointed as the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Health Ministry in the rank of secretary.

Another IAS officer Satbir Bedi who was the Chairperson of NCTE has been appointed as Secretary, Central Information Commission.

Nagendra Nath Sinha, Jharkhand cadre 1987-batch IAS is new Rural Development Secretary, while Sidhanshu Panday, has been appointed as new Food Secretary and Leela Nandan, 1987 batch UP-cadre officer, has been appointed as Secretary of Consumer Affairs.

Rameshwar Prasad Gupta, Gujarat cadre IAS, will be new Envitonment Secretary as incumbent CK Mishra is set to retire in May-end.

Rajesh Verma, the Odisha cadre IAS of 1987 batch, will replace incumbent Injeti Srinivas as Corporate Affairs Secretary.

In a related development, Aramane Giridhar, 1988 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre officer, will be new Road Transport and Highways Secretary.