Apurva Chandra, a 1988-batch IAS officer of Maharashtra cadre has been transferred as health secretary on Saturday as part of top level bureaucratic reshuffle. Apurva Chandra was serving as Information and Broadcasting secretary.
The position of health secretary was vacant as then health secretary Sudhansh Pant was repatriated to Rajasthan cadre to become chief secretary. Chandra was holding additional charge of secretary, department of health and family welfare since then.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has also approved appointment of senior IAS officer Sanjay Jaju, a 1992-batch officer as the new Information and Broadcasting secretary in place of Chandra.
Jaju is currently serving in his home cadre Telangana as officer on special duty (OSD) at Telangana Bhawan at New Delhi.
The committee also approved appointment of Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, a 1988-batch (retired) IAS officer of Uttarakhand cadre, as secretary to the anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal on contract basis for a period of one year.
Apart from that, Ashish Kumar Bhutani, a 1992-batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, has been named as secretary, ministry of cooperation.
Senior bureaucrat Raj Kumar Goyal has been appointed as secretary, department of border management.
Legal Affairs secretary Niten Chandra will now be secretary, department of ex-servicemen welfare, and K. Moses Chalai has been named secretary of inter state council secretariat under the ministry of home affairs.
Chalai is currently serving as secretary, north eastern council secretariat, ministry of development of north eastern region.
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”.
Senior IAS officer Anil Malik has been appointed as Officer on Special Duty (OSD), Ministry of Women and Child Development. He will take over as Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development after superannuation of incumbent Indevar Pandey on February 29, the order said.
Sumita Dawra, Special Secretary (Logistics) in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, will now be Officer on Special Duty in the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
She will take over as Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment after the retirement of Arti Ahuja this month-end.
Vijay Kumar, Special Secretary in the Ministry of Cooperation, has been named as Chairman, 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.
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