Apurva Chandra appointed Health Secretary; Sanjay Jaju new I&B Secretary

New Delhi: As a part of a top-level bureaucratic reshuffle, the Centre has appointed Apurva Chandra, the Information and Broadcasting Secretary, as the new Health Secretary.

According to an order issued by Personnel Ministry, Chandra, a 1988-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from the Maharashtra cadre, will now lead the Department of Health and Family Welfare, as approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).

In the reshuffle, Sanjay Jaju, a 1992-batch IAS officer from Telangana, has been appointed as the new Information and Broadcasting Secretary, succeeding Chandra.

Meanwhile, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, a retired 1988-batch IAS officer from the Uttarakhand cadre, has been appointed as the Secretary to the anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal on a contract basis for one year.

Ashish Kumar Bhutani, a 1992-batch IAS officer from the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, is now the Secretary of the Ministry of Cooperation. Other appointments include Raj Kumar Goyal as Secretary of the Department of Border Management, Niten Chandra as Secretary of the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare, and K Moses Chalai as Secretary of the Inter State Council Secretariat under the Ministry of Home Affairs. Chalai, currently Secretary of the North Eastern Council Secretariat, will transition to his new role.

Niten Chandra, who was the first IAS officer to be appointed to the post of legal affairs secretary, is also the secretary to the high-level committee on “One Nation, One Election”.

Anil Malik, a senior IAS officer, has been appointed as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Ministry of Women and Child Development and will assume the position of Secretary after the superannuation of the current incumbent Indevar Pandey on February 29.

Sumita Dawra, Special Secretary (Logistics) in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, has been designated as Officer on Special Duty in the Ministry of Labour and Employment. She will take over as Secretary after the retirement of Arti Ahuja at the end of this month.

Vijay Kumar, Special Secretary in the Ministry of Cooperation, has been named as the Chairman of the Inland Waterways Authority of India.

The ACC has also approved in-situ upgradation of posts held by four officers.

Accordingly, P Daniel will now be Secretary, Central Vigilance Commission in the rank and pay of Secretary. Rashmi Chowdhary will be Secretary, Central Information Commission in the rank and pay of Secretary to the government of India.

A Neeraja will be Special Secretary in the Department of Fertilizers and Shyam Bhagat Negi has been appointed as Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat.

The ACC has also approved appointment of Reeta Vasishta, in-charge of Central Agency Section, Ministry of Law and Justice, as the Member Secretary, 22nd Law Commission of India, the order added. with agency inputs