New Delhi: In a major bureaucratic reshuffle, the Centre on Tuesday appointed senior IAS officer Chanchal Kumar as Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, according to an official order issued by the Personnel Ministry.
Kumar, a 1992 batch Indian Administrative Service officer of the Bihar cadre, is currently serving as Secretary in the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region. He will replace Sanjay Jaju, who has been appointed as the new Secretary of the DoNER Ministry.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the changes as part of a wider reorganisation across key ministries. Among other appointments, Sanjay Lohiya, presently Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Mines, has been named Special Secretary in the Department of Financial Services under the Finance Ministry. He is slated to assume charge as Secretary of the department after the retirement of incumbent Nagaraju Maddirala on May 31.
Abhishek Singh, a 1995 batch IAS officer of the Nagaland cadre and currently Director General of the National Informatics Centre, has been appointed Director General of the National Testing Agency under the Ministry of Education.
In another change, Tourism Secretary Srivatsa Krishna will take over as Secretary in the Ministry of Minority Affairs, succeeding Chandra Sekhar Kumar. The latter has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of the National Rainfed Area Authority under the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ministry.
Bhuvnesh Kumar, who is currently Chief Executive Officer of the Unique Identification Authority of India, will replace Krishna as Tourism Secretary.
The reshuffle also sees Rohit Kansal, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Textiles, being appointed Secretary in the Department of Rural Development. Narendra Bhooshan, a 1992 batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, will serve as Secretary in the Department of Land Resources.
Tejveer Singh, a 1994 batch IAS officer of the Punjab cadre, has been appointed Secretary in the Department of Chemicals and Petro-Chemicals, replacing Nivedita Shukla Verma. Verma will move to the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances and will additionally hold charge of the Department of Pensions and Pensioners Welfare.
Bharat Harbanslal Khera has been appointed Officer on Special Duty in the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and will take over as Secretary after the retirement of Subhas Chandra Lal Das on April 30.