Acting chief of Natgrid shifted, 15 new JS appointed

Senior IAS officer Rajiv Arora, acting chief of Natgrid – a proposed intelligence gathering mechanism – has been shifted as Joint Secretary in Labour and Employment Ministry as part of a major mid-level bureaucratic reshuffle effected on Monday.

A total of 15 Joint Secretaries have been appointed in various Central government ministries. In these, there are only four IAS officers and rest belong to other services like Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Revenue Service (IRS), among others.

This comes amidst demand from various Group A services seeking equal job opportunities enjoyed by IAS officers. Arora, a 1987-batch IAS officer of the Haryana cadre, has been appointed as JS in Labour and Employment ministry for a period of overall five year of central deputation upto November 14, 2017, an order issued by Department of Personnel and Training.

He was working as Joint Secretary in Natgrid – a robust intelligence gathering mechanism being set up to track any terror suspect and incident to enhance India’s counter terror capabilities – under the Home Ministry. Arora was also the acting CEO of the body. The CEO’s post has been lying vacant ever since the completion of Raghu Raman’s tenure in May 2014.

Arora has been appointed in place of G Venugopal Reddy, who has been sent back to his cadre – Railway Ministry – before completion of his tenure, it said.

Madhya Pradesh cadre IPS officer Sudhir K Saxena will be new Joint Secretary in Home Ministry. RK Mitra, a Central Secretariat Service officer, will continue to work as Joint Secretary in Home Ministry till his retirement on March 31, 2018, the order said.

IAS officer Rajesh Aggarwal has been shifted from the Department of Financial Services (DFS) and appointed JS in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

Suchindra Mishra, an Indian Defence Accounts Service officer, has been appointed in place Aggarwal as Joint Secretary in DFS.  Anna Roy, an officer of Indian Economic Service, has also been moved out of the post of JS in the DFS and appointed Adviser, Knowledge and Innovation Hub in Niti Aayog, it said. IRS officer Madnesh Kumar Mishra will be new Joint Secretary in place of Roy. Anju Nigam, an officer of Indian Postal Service, will be JS in the I&B Ministry.

Jayant Sinha, an officer of Indian Audit & Account Service, has been appointed JS in the Defence Ministry. Her colleague from the same service, Meenakshi Sharma, will be Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism, the order said.

IPS officer Sanjeeb Kumar Patjoshi has been appointed JS in Ministry of Panchayati Raj. IAS officer Kalpana Awasthi will be Director General, National Productivity Council under the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.