All new faces in Patil staff except one Joint Secy

The country8217;s first woman President Pratibha Patil will have mostly new faces at Rashtrapati Bhawan but one official, who had also served under APJ Abdul Kalam, is set to continue with the Government deciding to relax tenure norms.

The country8217;s first woman President Pratibha Patil will have mostly new faces at Rashtrapati Bhawan but one official, who had also served under APJ Abdul Kalam, is set to continue with the Government deciding to relax tenure norms.

The Government today finalised new appointments, including a new Military Secretary. But Barun Mitra, a joint secretary under Kalam, has been retained in 8220;relaxation of norms8221;. He was one of the two joint secretaries when Kalam was President. The other, A K Mangotra, has been moved out.

Christy Leon Fernandez has taken over from P M Nair as Secretary to Patil. Fernandez, a 1973-batch Gujarat cadre officer, was earlier Union Tourism Secretary. General Officer Commanding Delhi Area Major General K J S Oberoi is the new Military Secretary to the President. He replaces Major General Vinod Chopra, who was appointed last year.

Patil8217;s ADC when she was Rajasthan Governor, Sq Ldr Vikrant, is on long leave and is camping in Delhi, staying in one of the quarters of Rashtrapati Bhavan. There is no official word yet on appointment of new ADCs for the President. Convention has it that there are five ADCs, three from the Army and one each from the Navy and the Air Force.

Indian Foreign Service officer Vijay Thakur Singh will the President8217;s Social Secretary. She will also be responsible for handling the media. Singh has earlier served as India8217;s Deputy Chief of Mission in Spain. Kalam8217;s Press Secretary S M Khan and Deputy Press Secretary Nitin Wakankar have moved out.

For the two posts of Deputy Secretary to the President, the Government has zeroed in on Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, a 1996-batch officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre. Giving him company will be Vishal Chauhan, a 1998-batch IAS officer from the Sikkim cadre.