Babus In Demand: A high profile post on offer for WTO, Geneva

THE government has been looking for locating the right candidate to fill up a high profile post to be based out of Geneva in Switzerland. In fact, the department of personnel and training (DoPT) has issued letters to all state chief secretaries and secretaries of Central government ministries and departments to get an officer at the rank of deputy secretary or director to be posted as Counsellor (Services) in the Permanent Mission of India (PMI), World Trade Organization (WTO), Geneva. The vacancy will arise on arise on November 21, 2009. Officers applying for this post should have the following qualifications and experience: 1) Officers having 2 years cumulative work experience in Commerce, trade and industry. 2) Should be familiar with the functioning of the WTO and have knowledge of the legal agreements. 3) Must have worked for at least 2 years at the Centre under the Central Staffing Scheme. 4) Should not be over 54 years of age. 5) Should be at least 3 batches below the next batch to be considered for empanelment as joint secretary. Last Date of application: August 30, 2009

Action & Appointments a) V Sridhar, IRS (Customs & Central Excise) of 1973 batch has been appointed as chairman, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) in the department of revenue, ministry of finance. Mr Sridhar who is presently Member, CBEC succeeds P C Jha, IRS (C&CE) who superannuated as Chairman, CBEC on Thursday. b) Pradeep Kumar, a 1972 batch Haryana cadre IAS today took over as the defence secretary on Thursday. Read “Know Your Babu: New defence secretary Pradeep Kumar” posted on July 15, 2009.