New Delhi, April 18: Senior IAS officials Arvind Shrivastava and Samir Kumar Sinha were appointed as Revenue and Civil Aviation Secretary, respectively, as part of the centre’s top bureaucratic restructuring carried out by the centre on Friday.
Shrivastava is an official of the Indian Administrative Services Officer (IAS) of Karnataka Cadres in 1994 and is currently serving as an additional secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
The Ministry of Personnel Order said the Cabinet Appointment Committee (ACC) has approved Shrivastava’s appointment as secretary of the Taxation Bureau of the Ministry of Finance.
Shrivastava’s Batchmate Sinha, from Assam-Meghalaya Cadre, has been appointed as the Civil Aviation Secretary in place of Vumlunmang Vualnam.
Vualnam was appointed secretary of the Department of Expenditure. He replaced Manoj Govil, who was appointed Secretary-General of the Cabinet (coordinator).
Vivek Aggarwal, a senior batch IAS official at Madhya Pradesh Cadre, was appointed Secretary of the Ministry of Culture.
Aggarwal is currently the other secretary of the Taxation Department. He is also a director of the Financial Intelligence Department of India (FIU-IND).
18 IAS officials, including two staff members working in the PMO, have been appointed to different central government departments as part of the secretary-level restructuring, which led the lead on Monday’s Civil Service Day.
Hari Ranjan Rao, a Madhya Pradesh Cadre IAS official in the 1994 batch, was appointed as sports secretary.
Rao is currently serving as other secretary of the PMO.
The ACC has approved the appointment of the Special Officer of the Department of Sports (OSD) of the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports.
The order said: “The official will take over as Secretary of the Sports Department of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Ms. Sujata Chetulvedi, IAS, IAS (BH: 89), her pension on 30.06.2025.”
Anuradha Thakur, other secretary of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, was appointed OSD of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
After Ajay Seth retires on June 30, she will take over as Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs.
Rajesh Agarwal, currently serving as secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, has been appointed as the special secretary of the Ministry of Commerce.
Agarwal will take over as Secretary of Commerce after Sunil Barthwal retires on September 30.
The order said K Moses Chalai, secretary of the State Secretariat (ISC), under the leadership of the Ministry of Home Affairs, will serve as secretary of the Ministry of Public Enterprises.
Govil succeeded Vandana Gurnani, who was appointed secretary of the Ministry of Labor and Employment.
Currently a consultant, Ashish Srivastava of the State Council Secretariat will now become its new secretary.
The Council of Ministers of Youth Affairs will now serve as secretary and secretary of the Ministry of Authorization of the Government of India, secretary of the Ministry of Social Justice and Authorization. She will replace Neeraja, who will retire on May 31.
Rajya Sabha Secretary General Rajit Punhani was appointed Secretary of the Ministry of Skills Development and Entrepreneurship. He will take over the position after the incumbent Atul Kumar Tiwari takes over on June 30.
Nikunja Bihari Dhal, currently working in his cadre state Odisha, has been appointed secretary of the Parliamentary Affairs Department. Dhal will take over the new responsibilities after the current Umang Narula retires on June 30.
The order said Rakesh Kumar Verma, additional secretary to the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganges Restoration, will now serve as Director General of the Indian Institute of International Democracy and Electoral Management.
Director General of Foreign Trade Santosh Kumar Sarangi was appointed Secretary of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
Pallavi Jain Govil, Director-General of Hydrocarbons of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, was appointed Secretary of the Ministry of Youth Affairs.
Nithi Chhibber, additional secretary Niti Aayog, will serve as OSD in the Food Processing Industry Department.
The order said: “The official will take over as Secretary of the Food Processing Industry Department, Deputy Shri Subrata Gupta, IAS (WB: 90) at the time of retirement payment of 31.05.2025.”
The agreement also ratifies the extension of Bharat Lal’s appointment as Secretary-General of the National Human Rights Commission, and extends the rank and salary of the Secretary of the Government of India within a year beyond June 30, 2025.
The Centre also approved the in-situ upgrade of two officials to temporarily upgrade the positions they hold, thereby upgrading in terms of rank and compensation for the Indian government.
