Defence Secretary R K Mathur gets DRDO charge

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on Friday decided to give Defence Secretary R K Mathur the additional charge of DRDO Secretary, a before the term of incumbent Avinash Chander ends on January 31.

“The competent authority has approved the assignment of additional charge of the post of Secretary Department of Defence Research and Development to R K Mathur … Defence Secretary for a period of three months with effect from the date of relinquishment of charge by the current incumbent Avinash Chander or until further orders whichever is earlier,” said an order on the DoPT website.

Mathur’s appointment comes days after the government terminated the contract of Chander as DRDO chief. While Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had cited that he would want DRDO to be headed by a younger scientist, sources within the Ministry had  indicated that the DRDO chief’s current responsibility of holding dual charge as Secretary Defence production and scientific advisor to the minister would be split for a better efficiency.     ENS