Secretary Reshuffle: Health secretary BP Sharma shifted to DoPT; water resources ministry to virtually have 2 sectaries for next 5 months

THE Central government on Thursday had a major round of secretary-level reshuffle, the key highlight being appointing would-be secretaries as Officer-on Special Duty in the ministry where the incumbent secretaries have a tenure of one to five months months. For example, the secretary of the ministry of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation Shashi Shekhar will retire only on December 31, 2016, but 1982 batch Gujarat cadre IAS Dr Amarjit Singh is asked to immediately join the ministry as OSD with a direction that he will take over as secretary once the incumbent retires. Also, this round of reshuffle heralds the appointment of 1983 batch IAS who were empaneled as secretaries only recently. Here are the new postings:

Mega Secretary Reshuffle: Lov Verma shifted out health ministry; Gauri Kumar moved into cabinet secretariat

Lov Verma during a blood donation camp (File photo)

IN THE biggest secretary-ranked reshuffle after Narendra Modi government assumed charge in May, the Centre on Saturday transferred as many as seven IAS officers and appointed retired IAS of 1977 batch DK Mittal as Mission Director, Direct Benefits Transfer Scheme for three months. The highlight of the Saturday’s reshuffle, however, was the transfer (or demotion?) of health secretary and 1978 batch IAS Lov Verma to the department of empowerment of persons with disabilities. Labour secretary and 1979 batch Gujarat cadre IAS Gauri Kumar has been appointed as secretary, co-ordination in cabinet secretariat fuelling speculations whether she will be the deputy to…