Bureaucratic reshuffle: 21 joint secretaries appointed in mid-level rejig in govt departments

New Delhi: Senior bureaucrat Sandeep Sarkar has been appointed as Joint Secretary in Cabinet Secretariat as part of a major mid-level bureaucratic reshuffle effected . Sarkar, a 1995-batch officer of Indian Defence Accounts Service, has been appointed to the post for five years, an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said. A total of 21 officers have been appointed as joint secretaries in different government departments. Of these, seven officers are from Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and rest from other services like Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Revenue Service (IRS). [caption id=“attachment_3664957” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Getty Images[/caption] IFS officer Jayant N Khobragade has been appointed as Officer on Special Duty (JS-level) in the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Mumbai. Khobragade worked as India’s envoy to Kyrgyzstan till 9 February, this year. AR Sule, who was JS in Home Ministry, has been moved to the DAE in the same capacity. Senior IAS officer Bishwanath Sinha, Joint Secretary in Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, has been sent back to his Kerala cadre with immediate effect, before completion of his tenure. Jigmet Takpa, a forest service officer, will be new JS in place of Sinha. Gayatri Mishra, who was in the DoPT, has been appointed JS in Department of Health and Family Welfare. IAS officers Bipul Pathak and Shiv Das meena have been appointed joint secretaries in Mines and Urban Development ministries respectively. Dhananjay Kumar will be Additional Secretary (JS level) in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and Saroj Punhani has been appointed Secretary (JS level) in the National Commission for Minority Education Institutes. IAS officer Rajiv Verma, at present JS in Defence Ministry, has been appointed Principal Commissioner (Coordination) in the Delhi Development Authority. Prasanta Kumar Swain has been named JS in the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Sanjiv Narain Mathur, will be Joint Secretary in the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare and Aarti Ahuja will be JS in the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie. IRS officer Vipin Chandra has been appointed as JS in the Ministry of Earth Sciences. Dharmendra Singh Gangwar will be Joint Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries. Alka Nangia Arora has been named Joint Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. IAS officer Ravinder will be Joint Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. Neelam Sanghi has been appointed Joint Secretary and Financial Adviser in the Department of Posts and IRS officer Prabodh Seth will be JS, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. Anindita Sen Gupta has been appointed as Additional DGFT in Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Kolkata.