Key bureaucrat of Manmohan Singh’s PMO R Ramanujam gets extension; reemployment for “public interest”

AFTER giving extension to cabinet secretary Ajit K Seth for six months, Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre has given its nod to extend the tenure of yet another key bureaucrat of Manmohan Singh era -- 1979 batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS and secretary in PMO R Ramanujam. The 60-year-old officer is retiring on June 30, but the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on Thursday approved his extension "in public interest", on a contract basis for a period of…
three months beyond the date of his superannuation, i.e. up to September 30, 2014.
Ramanujam’s extension came only a day after the government’s decision to cancel its earlier order of appointing 1981 batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS Rajiv Nayan Choubey as additional secretary in PMO. During UPA-II, the then PMO secretary MN Prasad got a two-year-long reappointment on contract basis after his retirement. Later, Prasad was sent to Washington DC as World Bank executive director.
Like cabinet secretary Seth, Ramanujam too was a post-graduation in chemistry before getting into IAS. In 1991, he did MBA from UK’s University of Hull. As a young officer in 1980s and early 1990s, Ramanujam, a Tamil, served as collector in MP’s Satna and Sagar districts. In mid-1990s, he was Member (finance) in MP State Electricity Board.
In Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s PMO, Ramanujam was a joint secretary before getting himself shifted to the ministry of power. He joined the PMO as a director in March 1997 before he was elevated as joint secretary in November 1998.
In his second stint in the PMO, Ramanujam joined as additional secretary in September 2011. He was elevated as secretary to PM in January 2013. He closely worked with the then principal secretary to PM Pulok Chatterji.
In addition to Tamil and Hindi, Ramanujam knows Sanskrit well.