Central Government orders Major Appointments of Joint Secretarys

In a major bureaucratic reshuffle order issued by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved of fresh appointments and premature repatriation of officers at Joint Secretary and equivalent level. 

1995 batch Bihar Cadre IAS officer Ms. Vijaya Lakshmi Nadendla, lAS has been appointed as the Joint Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, for a tenure of five years from the date of assumption of the charge or until further orders. Nadendla has replaced Shri Vivek

Aggarwal, lAS (MP:1994). Senior Rajasthan cadre 1998 batch IFoS officer Priya Ranjan, has been appointed as Joint Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare for a tenure of five years replacing Bihar cadre 1994 batch IAS officer Atish Chandra.

In another major appointment, Odisha cadre 1997 batch IAS officer Pramod Kumar Meherda, has been appointed as the Managing Director, National Food Security Mission (NFSM) under the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare with additional charge of the post of Secretary, Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board in place of  UP cadre 1990 batch IFoS senior officer Neeraja Adidam, IFoS. On the other hand, Ms. Neeraja Adidam, has been appointed as Joint Secretary, Department of Fertilizers for a tenure of seven years in place of Partha Sarthi Sensharma, lAS, another IAS officer from UP cadre, 1994 batch.

Abhay Kumar Singh, lAS (BH:2004) is appointed as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation for a tenure of seven years or until further orders, against a newly created post. Kavita Garg, IDAS (1999) is appointed as Joint Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH for a tenure of five years from the date of assumption or until further orders,in place of  PN Ranjit Kumar, IPoS (1993).

Punjab cadre 2004 batch IAS officer Kavita Singh, lAS is appointed as Joint Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat for a tenure of five years by temporarily upgrading the post of Director held by the officer, to be further adjustable against a regular vacancy of Joint Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat. TamilNadu 1990 batch officer Vibhu Nayar, lAS as Executive Director, India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) under the Department of Commerce for a tenure upto his superannuation on 31/10/2025 . Nayar has replaced i Rajesh Agarwal, lAS (MN:1994).

Senior IAS officer of Nagaland cadre, 2004 batch, Dinesh Kumar is appointed as Joint Secretary, Department of Defence for a tenure of five years, in place of 1994 batch Chattisgarh officer Nidhi Chhibber. In another major reshuffle in the department, Sanjay Kumar, (IA&AS 1995) is appointed as Additional FA & Joint Secretary in Ministry of Defence (Finance) for a period of five years in place of A N Das, a 1991 batch IDAS officer. In a similar movement, Vedveer Arya, another 1997 batch IDAS officer is appointed as Additional FA & Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Defence for a period of five years or until further orders. Arya has replaced the current in charge, Subir Mallick, a 1989 batch IA&AS 

Officer.

Another crucial move in the bureaucracy is marked by the transfer order of Andhra Pradesh cadre 1997 batch, IAS officer Peeyush Kumar, who has been made the Joint Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs replacing Gujarat cadre 2003 batch officer Sandhya Bhullar. On the other hand another transfer order has come in with the reshuffle of Uttarakhand cadre 2004 batch IAS officer Sreekanth T, who is now appointed as Deputy Election Commissioner, Election Commission of India.

Shailendra Singh, IFoS (TR: 1997) is presently appointed as Deputy Director General (DDG),

UIDAI, HQ, New Delhi under the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology for a tenure of five years in place of Laxmi P. Rao Yarram, IFoS (MH:1986). In another move P Bhanumati, a 1996 batch officer is made Deputy Director General (DDG), UIDAI, RO, New Delhi under the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology for a tenure of five years, in place of a 1995 batch Sikkim officer Pradeep Kumar.

While Madnesh Kumar Mishra, IRS (IT)  officer of 1990 is appointed as the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture for a period of seven years in place of Nirupama Kotru, IRS (IT:1992); Neelesh Kumar Shah, a 1997 batch IA&AS officer is appointed as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Changere replacing Richa Sharma, lAS officer of 1994 batch Chattisgarh cadre.

Appointment of Shri Partha Sarathi Das, IA&AS (1994) as Joint Secretary, Department of Food & Public Distribution for a tenure of five years in place of EK Majhi, lAS (KL:1989).

 Major transfer and repatriation has also been exercised in the the Department of Health and Family Welfare, wherein, Vandana Jam, CSS is appointed  as Joint Secretary, Department of Health & Family Welfare for a tenure of five years replacing Sunil Sharma, IRPS (1985). Premature Repatriation is awarded to Rekha Shukia, IRS (IT) (1989), who was the Joint Secretary, Department of Health & Family Welfare so far. Sukhia is replaced by V Hekali Zhimomi, lAS from UP cadre 1996 batch officer as Joint Secretary,Department of Health & Family Welfare for a tenure of five years .

Purnendu Kishore Banerjee, ISS (1993) is presently made responsible as Joint Secretary,

Department of Higher Education for five years in place of Sanjay Kumar Sinha, IFoS from Jammu and Kashmir, 1993 batch. CG Rajini Kaanthan, lAS  from Hyderabad cadre 2004 batch is appointed as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, in place of Satyendra Garg, an IPS(UT:1987) officer. In another major move Sreyashi Chaudhuri, CSS is now appointed as Advisor, National DisasterManagement Authority (NDMA) under the Ministry of Home Affairs, for a tenure of five years in place of Bihar cadre 1993 batch IAS officer Sandeep Poundrik,, Another important reshuffle of Kunal Satyarthi, IFoS , HP cadre 1997 batch officer is appointed as Advisor, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) under the Ministry of Home Affairs for a combined tenure of seven years in place of Ramesh K Ganta lAS (PB:1993. Dhananjay Kumar, lDAS (1993) is now posted as Director (Finance), NSG-Cum-Financial Advisor, CRPF under the Ministry of Home Affairs, for a combined tenure of seven years replacing Sanjeev Mishra, ICAS (1988.

Major rejig of officers also impacted the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs with transfers of Roopa Mishra, lAS an Odisha cadre 2004 batch who is appointed as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for a tenure of five years. Mishra has replaced Vinod Kumar Jindal,

ICoAS (1988), A 1994 defence service officer Pankaj Kumar Singh, is appointed as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for a tenure of five, in place of  Manish Thakur, lAS (AM:1998).

Premature repatriation has been granted to Sudhir Garg, IRSEE officer of 1986 batch, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises. However, Mercy Epao, CSS is appointed as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Micro, and Small & Medium Enterprises for a tenure of five years in place of Garg. Srinivas Danda, IRS (IT) (1992) is appointed as Joint Secretary, Ministry of

Minority Affairs for a tenure of five years in place of SK Dev Verman, lAS (MN:1988); 

Major reshuffle is also been done within the administrative mechanism of  Niti Aayog. KS Rejimon ISS (1998) is appointed as Joint Secretary, NITI Aayog for five years in place of Jitendra Kumar, lFoS(UT:1987). Kundan Kumar, a Bihar cadre 2004 batch lAS is appointed as Adviser, NITI Aayog for a combined tenure of eight years in place of Parag Gupta lAS an Odisha cadre 1988 batch officer. 

Ajay Kumar Kanojia, CSS is appointed as Additional Secretary, Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), under the Department of Personnel & Training for a tenure up to his superannuation on

30/06/2026 in place of Atul Singh, lPS (AP:1995). On the other hand, Radhika Rastogi, lAS from Maharashtra cadre of 1995 batch is appointed as Joint Director, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) under the Department of Personnel & Training for an overall tenure of five years in place of Manoj Ahuja, lAS (OD:1990). Raghuraj Madhav Rajendran, lAS  from Madhya Pradesh batch 2004 is appointed as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Power for an overall tenure of five years which is further extendable for additional two years on availability of cadre

clearance, in place of  Vivek Kumar Dewangan, lAS (MN: 1993).

Vishal Kapoor, IRSME (1995) is appointed as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Power for a combined tenure of seven years in place of Tanmay Kumar, lAS (RJ:1993. Shruti Singh, lAS (PB:2004) is appointed as Joint Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIlT) for an overall tenure of five years. S. K. Jha, CSS as Joint Secretary, Department of Revenue for five years in place of Sudhir Kumar, CSS. Karma Zimpa Bhutia, IFoS (JH:1997) is appointed as Joint Secretary, Department of Rural Development for a combined tenure of seven years in place of Prashant Kumar, IFoS (MP:1985). Besides Bhutia, Amit Kataria, lAS (CG:2004) as Joint Secretary, Department of Rural Development for an overall tenure of five years in place of Leena John. Gyaneshwar Kumar Singh, IP&TA&FS (1992) is appointed as Joint Secretary, National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), under the Department of Social Justice &

Empowerment, for a combined tenure of seven years replacing Smita S. Chaudhri, lA&AS(1990); Rakesh Gupta, lAS (HY:1997) is appointed as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Women & Child Development for a tenure of five years replacing L K Meena, CSS.  While premature repatriation has been granted to Aastha Saxena Khatwani, ICAS (1991), Joint Secretary, Ministry of Women & Child Development, Tripti Gurha, IRTS (1993) is appointed as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Women & Child Development for a tenure of five years.Premature repatriation is also awarded to Asit Singh, IRS (IT:1990), Joint Secretary,Department of Youth Affairs. Nitesh Kumar Mishra, ICAS (1995) is appointed as Joint Secretary, Department of Youth Affairs for a tenure of five years replacing Asit Singh, IRS (IT:1990). Seema Sharma, IRTS (1994), CVO, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is also granted premature repatriation to her parent cadre.

Maharashtra cadre 2001 batch officer Dr. Nipun Vinayak lAS (MH:2001 'Joint Secretary, Department of Health & Family Welfare is also repatriated to his parent cadre.