The Hindu : Front Page : New Home, Defence, Civil Aviation Secretaries

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 30, 2004

Front Page

Front Page

New Home, Defence, Civil Aviation Secretaries

By Vinay Kumar

NEW DELHI, JUNE 29. The key postings and transfers of top-level IAS officers announced today are part of a larger reshuffle being undertaken by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government. Sources said that key appointments of Secretaries were being made on the criteria of seniority, background and perception about top officials. Orders were issued today, sources said.

Both Anil Baijal and Ajay Prasad, belonging to the 1969 batch of IAS, were handpicked by the previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government to head the Home and Defence Ministries respectively. Mr. Prasad also served as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the former Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani.

Mr. Dhirendra Singh, IAS officer of the 1968 batch of Karnataka cadre, was Secretary, Disinvestment in the NDA Government. He has also served in Defence Production and has had a stint in the Cabinet Secretariat. He will have a rather short tenure of about nine months as the Home Secretary as he will attain the age of superannuation in March 2005.

Ajai Vikram Singh of the 1967 batch will be the new Defence Secretary. He briefly served as Revenue Secretary under the Jaswant Singh dispensation in the Union Finance Ministry and was moved to the Department of Non-Conventional Energy.

Sushil Chandra Tripathi will be the new Petroleum Secretary. He will fill up the vacancy caused by the promotion of his predecessor, B.K. Chaturvedi, as Cabinet Secretary. Mr. Tripathi, topper of the 1968 batch of IAS, belongs to U.P. cadre. He was recently moved from Elementary Education Department as Secretary, Education.

Anugrah Narayan Tiwari from the 1969 batch of the Andhra Pradesh cadre will be the new Secretary, Personnel. He will replace Arun Bhatnagar who retires tomorrow but has been appointed as Secretary, Advisory committee on Common Minimum Programme.

B.S. Baswan of the 1967 batch of Madhya Pradesh cadre will take over as Secretary, Education. He is presently Secretary, Social Justice Ministry. R. Poornalingam, Additional Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat, is being appointed Secretary, Disinvestment Department in the Ministry of Finance. He belongs to the 1979 batch of the Tamil Nadu cadre.

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