Raj Kumar Singh all set to be next Union Home Secretary

New Delhi: Raj Kumar Singh, a 1975 batch Bihar cadre IAS officer, is all set to  succeed G K Pillai as the country’s next Home Secretary. GK Pillai retires on 30 June. Singh’s name was cleared by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today and a formal notification on his appointment as the new Home Secretary will be issued soon, official sources said. [caption id=“attachment_30458” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Raj Kumar Singh will succeed GK Pillai as the next Home Secretary. AFP”] [/caption] Singh, currently Secretary, Defence Production, in the Ministry of Defence, had last week appeared before Home Minister P Chidambaram for an interview, along with a few others including Punjab Chief Secretary S C Aggarwal. Singh had met Defence Minister A K Antony on Monday and expressed his desire to move into the high-profile post in the North Block. Sources said the Defence Minister readily accepted the request of Singh and assured him that he would be relieved from the present assignment once a formal decision is taken by the government. Singh, who had earlier served in the Home Ministry as a Joint Secretary for about five years, will have a fixed two-year tenure. Pillai, a 1972 batch Kerala cadre IAS officer, took charge as Home Secretary in June 2009—seven months after the Mumbai terror attack—and oversaw the complete overhaul of the country’s security establishment. PTI