Sanjay Mitra to be next Defence Secretary

The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has approved his appointment initially as Officer on Special Duty in the Defence Ministry.

New Delhi, May 10: Road Transport and Highways Secretary Sanjay Mitra was on Wednesday named as the next Defence Secretary. The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has approved his appointment initially as Officer on Special Duty in the Defence Ministry.

The officer will take over as the Secretary, Ministry of Defence on completion of tenure of the present incumbent G Mohan Kumar on May 24, an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training said. Mitra, a 1982 batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre, will have a fixed two-year tenure.

Rajive Kumar, Secretary in Shipping Ministry, has been given the additional charge of the post of the Secretary, Road Transport and Highways. Besides him, five new secretaries have been appointed in different central government departments. Textiles Secretary Rashmi Verma will be the Tourism Secretary. She is a 1982 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre. Anant Kumar Singh, Additional Secretary in Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, will be Textiles Secretary in place of Verma.

Jagdish Prasad Meena will be the Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs. Meena is at present Special Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries. Leena Nair, Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development, has been moved to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs in the same capacity. Rakesh Srivastava will be the new Secretary in the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

Srivastava, a 1981 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre, is at present Member Secretary, the National Commission for Backward Classes. The ACC has also approved additional charge of the post of Secretary, Department of Telecommunications to Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology. She will continue to hold the additional charge till appointment of a regular incumbent, it said.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has also approved the appointment of Brij Raj Sharma as Additional Secretary, the Ministry of Home Affairs. Sharma, a 1984 batch IAS officer, is working in his cadre state -- Jammu and Kashmir.

PTI