Centre Empanels 20 Officers From ITS And IRS For Joint Secretary-Level Posts

According to Information Notes issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on November 2, 2026, the officers have been empanelled for consideration for Joint Secretary-level assignments at the Centre.

10 Indian Telecommunication Service Officers Empanelled

The following 10 officers of the 1997 batch of the Indian Telecommunication Service (ITS) have been empanelled:

1. Ashok Kumar
2. Mehul R Joshi
3. Neeraj Naruka
4. Rakesh Shrivastava
5. Ritu PandeSan
6. deep Arya
7. Sumit Mishra
8. Vijay Agarwal
9. Y. Sreenivasa Rao
10. Yashwant Kumar

10 IRS (Customs & Indirect Taxes) Officers Empanelled

In a separate Information Note, DoPT announced the empanelment of the following 10 officers of the 2006 batch of the Indian Revenue Service (Customs & Indirect Taxes):

1. Akshay Joshi
2. Arvind Kumar
3. Ashok Kumar
4. Gaurav Singh
5. Gautam Wahi
6. K. Kalimuthu
7. K. Padmavathy
8. Kotraswamy M.
9. P. Vinitha Sekhar
10. Senthil Nathan S.

Significance of the Empanelment

The empanelment of 20 officers from ITS and IRS highlights the representation of organised Central Civil Services in the Union Government's senior administrative structure.

The Joint Secretary-level position is an important administrative rank in the Central Government, involving policy formulation, programme implementation, inter-ministerial coordination and supervision of key government initiatives.

The empanelment of the 1997-batch ITS officers and 2006-batch IRS officers also brings attention to the role of specialised services in senior-level governance, particularly in telecommunications, revenue administration, customs and indirect taxation.

However, empanelment does not mean automatic appointment or immediate posting. It makes the officers eligible for consideration for Joint Secretary or equivalent-level positions, subject to vacancies and the prescribed appointment procedures.