Rajamony moves from Rashtrapati Bhavan to ICJ

Venu Rajamony, named Indias Ambassador to the Netherlands, oversaw the public interface of Rashtrapati Bhavan for five years after President Pranab Mukherjee took charge and was responsible for projecting the Presidency in both the traditional and social media.

A 1986 batch IFS official, Rajamony will also be India's Permanent Representative to the Organisation for Prevention of Chemical Weapons based in the Hague and cover the International Court of Justice, the Permanent Court of Arbitration and other international organisations based in the Netherlands.

He is expected to take up his new assignment in the first week of June.

Rajamony had earlier worked with the President as Joint Secretary when Mukherjee was the Finance Minister in the UPA government, heading the Multilateral Institutions Division in the Department of Economic Affairs between 2010 and 2012.

In this position, he had played a role in formulating India's policy towards multilateral institutions like the IMF, the World Bank and the ADB.

At Rashtrapati Bhavan, he assisted the President with his speeches and contributed to efforts to preserve, restore and improve the architecture and interiors of the presidential palace by making it more accessible to the public.

Rajamony also played a role in establishing new museums, facilitation of documentary films and publications and supervision of the Rashtrapati Bhavan Library which houses over 2,000 old and rare books.

He joined the IFS in 1986 after a two-year stint as a Correspondent with a leading news daily.

He has served in the Indian mission in Hong Kong and twice in the Indian embassy in Beijing.

Rajamony had also served in the embassies in Washington DC and in the Indian mission to the UN in Geneva. His last posting was as Consul General in Dubai from 2007 to 2010.