In Latest Bureaucratic Reshuffle, Govt Names New Secretaries In MEA, Ministries of Health And I&B

In the latest orders issued by the personnel ministry on Saturday, senior diplomat Jaideep Mazumdar, a 1989 batch Indian Foreign Service Officer, has been appointed as the Secretary (East), while Pavak Kapoor, a 1990 batch IFS, has been named the Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs.

Mr Mazumdar has been brought back from Vienna where he was Ambassador to Austria and India's permanent representative at UN and international organisations in Viennna.Kapoor, who is being brought back from Moscow, Russia, will replace Sanjay Verma, who has been appointed as member of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

In the central administration, the government has moved Information and broadcasting secretary Apurva Chandra to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as Secretary. Earlier, Health Secretary Sudhansh Pant was moved back to his parent cadre Rajasthan, where he is now the Chief Secretary.

In place of Apurva Chandra in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the government has appointed Sanjay Jaju, a 1992 batch IAS officer of the Telangana cadre. Another officer from the 1992 batch, Ashish Kumar Bhutani from the Assam cadre, has been brought in as the new Secretary of Ministry of Cooperation.Vijay Kumar, also a 1992 batch IAS officer who was holding this position, has been shifted to the Ministry of Shipping and Ports as Chairman of Inland Waterways of Authority of India. Interestingly, he has not been made a full fledged secretary in the administration.

For the key post of the Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child development, the government has picked Haryana cadre officer of 1991 batch Anil Malik who will take over from incumbent Indevar Pandey upon his superannuation on February 29. Pandey has already been appointed as a member of NCLT in an order last week.

Rajkumar Goyal, a 1990 batch IAS officer from the Union Territory cadre, has been made Secretary, Border Management in the Ministry of Home Affairs to fill in the vacancy caused by repatriation of earlier Secretary Atal Dalloo, who has been appointed as Chief Secretary of Jammu &Kashmir.

Secretary, legal affairs, Niten Chandra from the Odisha cadre has been moved to the Ministry of Defence as Secretary, Ex Servicemen Welfare. He is also a 1990 batch IAS officer. K Moses Chalai, also from the 1990 batch, has been made Secretary, Interstate Council Secretariat.

Sunita Dawra, a 1991 batch officer and currently posted as Special Secretary (Logistics) in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has been moved as a full-fledged secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Employment in place of Arti Ahuja, who is also due to superannuate on February 29.

The most interesting order is the appointment of Sukhbir Singh Sandhu asSecretary of Lokpal on re-employment basis for one year. Sandhu, a 1988 batch IAS officer, recently retired as Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand. He was earlier Chairman of NHAI before he was sent back to his home cadre to helm the state administration.