Modi govt shifts Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram to tourism ministry

, Oct 16: In a surprise development, Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram has been shunted out of the Finance Ministry and given a low profile Ministry of Tourism.

In orders issued on Wednesday, Mayaram, a 1978-batch IAS officer belonging to Rajasthan cadre, was made the Tourism Secretary in place of Parvez Dewan on his retirement at month end.

In his place, Rajiv Mehrishi, an IAS officer of the same batch as Mayaram and from the same state, was appointed Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance.

Ministry of Finance has four secretaries - Economic Affairs, Expenditure, Revenue and Financial Services. The senior most among the four is designated Finance Secretary.

Presently, Ratan P Watal, a 1978 batch IAS officer from Andhra Pradesh is Expenditure Secretary while 1980-batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre Gurdial Singh Sandhu is the Financial Services Secretary.

Shaktikanta Das, an IAS officer of 1980 batch from Tamil Nadu cadre, is Revenue Secretary.

Mayaram's transfer was part of the first major Secretary-level reshuffle undertaken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.

In all, 20 senior officials were transfered on Wednesday, many at the level of secretary.

PTI