Economic Affairs Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi has been nominated as the Finance Secretary. He will replace Arvind Mayaram who has been transferred to Ministry of Minority Affairs.

Mehrishi is a 1978 batch Indian Administrative Service officer from the Rajasthan cadre. He was appointed Economic Affairs Secretary last month. Apart from Mehrishi, there are four other Secretaries – Ratan Watal (Expenditure), Shaktikanta Das (Revenue), Hasmukh Adhia (Financial Services) and Aradhana Johri (Disinvestment). Normally, the senior-most among the five Secretaries is nominated as Finance Secretary, which Mehrishi is.

After the Government’s announcement on Thursday designating him as Finance Secretary, Mehrishi will lead the bureaucracy in the Finance Ministry in the Budget-making exercise for 2015-16. He was earlier Chief Secretary of Rajasthan Government. Mehrishi has time till August next year in the Finance Ministry, after which he turns 60, the official age of retirement. Mehrishi is among the four Secretaries brought into the Finance Ministry by the Narendra Modi Government, after shifting out Rajiv Takru from Revenue to Minority Affairs Ministry and then to the National Commission for Minorities. He was replaced by Shaktikanta Das. Last month, Mayaram was transferred twice, first to Tourism and then to Minority Affairs.

Earlier this month, GS Sandhu was shunted from Financial Services to the National Authority for Chemical Weapons Convention, and the new Disinvestment Secretary Aradhana Johri was appointed after her predecessor Ravi Mathur retired on September 30.

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