In a major reshuffle in top bureaucracy of the Narendra Modi government, senior IAS officers AK Sharma and Tarun Bajaj were on Sunday moved out of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
Bajaj, a 1988-batch Haryana cadre officer, has been appointed as Secretary, Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and will take over upon superannuation of incumbent Atanu Chakraborty on April 30. He is presently posted as Additional Secretary in PMO, said a Ministry of Personnel order.
Sharma, a 1988-batch IAS of Gujarat cadre and also an Additional Secretary in the PMO, has been appointed Secretary, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and will take over upon superannuation of the present incumbent Arun Kumar Panda on April 30.
The decision was taken on Sunday by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) chaired by the Prime Minister.
As per the order, Sudhanshu Pandey will be new Union Food Secretary, Pradeep Kumar Tripathi the new Steel Secretary, Delhi Development Authority (DDA) Vice Chairman Tarun Kapoor the new Secretary, Petroleum and Natural Gas, CBSE Chairperson Anita Karwal will be the new Secretary, Education and Literacy, and Rajesh Bhushan Officer on Special Duty in Department of Health and Family Welfare.
Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan has got a three-month extension, said a Ministry of Personnel order. A 1983 batch IAS officer from the Andhra Pradesh cadre, she was to retire from service on April 30.
The ACC approved her extension for a period of “three months beyond the date of her superannuation on April 30, 2020 or until further orders, whichever is earlier”.