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In a another reshuffle of top officials in North Block, the government on Tuesday appointed Ashok Lavasa, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change as Secretary, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance.
A 1980 batch officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) from the Haryana cadre, Lavasa will replace Ratan P Watal, who retires on April 30. As Finance Secretary, Watal was given a two-month extension to ensure the smooth passage of the Union Budget 2016-17.
The post of Finance Secretary could be given to Lavasa or Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das.
Seen as a first amongst equals, the post of Finance Secretary is traditionally given to the senior most Secretary in the Finance Ministry, who is expected to coordinate between the different departments in the Ministry.
Das is also of the same 1980 batch of the IAS and belongs to the Tamil Nadu cadre.
Meanwhile, Ajay Narayan Jha, Special Secretary, Department of Expenditure, has replaced Lavasa as Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Similarly, Snehlata Shrivastava, Special Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, has been posted as Secretary, Department of Justice.
14 changes In all the, government made 14 top level changes across various Ministries and Departments.
“The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointments,” said an official statement. The jobs of Vijay Shankar Pandey, Secretary, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals and Anuj Kumar Bishnoi, Secretary, Department of Fertilisers have been swapped.
While Pandey will now head the Department of Fertilisers, Bishnoi will lead the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals. Similarly, Hem Kumar Pande, Secretary, Department of Official Language in the Ministry of Home Affairs, has been made Consumer Affairs Secretary. He will replace the current Chirravuri Viswanath, who has been appointed as Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances and Department of Pensions and Pensioners’ Welfare.
Officer on special duty The ACC has also created the post of Officer on Special Duty (Secretary level) in the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD).
Leena Nair, Chairperson, Marine Products Exports Development Authority, has been posted as OSD and Secretary in the Ministry of WCD.
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