Manipur CS named higher education secy, govt picks new secys for revenue, DoPT

An order regarding Joshi’s appointment, approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), was issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). The post of the Higher Education Secretary fell vacant after K Sanjay Murthy was last month appointed as Comptroller Auditor General of India (CAG).

Joshi was appointed as the state’s Chief Secretary in May last year amid the ethnic conflict and tensions.

This comes a day after the central government announced new gubernatorial appointments, including former Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla as Governor of Manipur and former Army Chief General V K Singh as Governor of Mizoram.

In another move, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet cleared the appointment of Arunish Chawla, a 1992-batch Bihar cadre IAS officer, as Revenue Secretary, and will also hold the additional charge of Secretary, Ministry of Culture, until the appointment of a regular incumbent or further orders whichever is earlier.

Sanjay Malhotra took over as RBI Governor earlier this month, leaving the post of the revenue secretary vacant.

Chawla, who was earlier the Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, will be replaced by Amit Agrawal, a 1993-batch Chhattisgarh cadre IAS officer. Agrawal was earlier the Chief Executive Officer, UIDAI.

Sanjay Sethi, a 1992-batch Maharashtra cadre IAS officer, was appointed Secretary, National Commission for Minorities. Sethi, who is presently working in his cadre, will replace Neelam Shammi Rao, a 1992-batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer, who will serve as the new textile secretary.

Rao will replace Rachna Shah, a 1991-batch Kerala cadre IAS officer, who was shifted from the textile ministry and posted as secretary, department of personnel and training.

Neerja Shekhar, a 1993-batch Haryana cadre IAS officer, has been appointed as the Director General, National Productivity Council, under the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade. Shekhar was earlier Special Secretary in the I&B Ministry.