New Appointments: A statistical service officer in DoPT and an IPS in drinking water and sanitation

IN THE last couple of days, the Central government has appointed a statistical service officer in personnel ministry (DoPT), one postal services and one forest services officer in department of school education and an IPS officer in the ministry of drinking water and sanitation, clearly indicating a shift from its earlier unwritten rule of appointing IAS only in those departments. The trend of appointing more and more IPS, IFoS and Group “A” services officers on deputation to various Central government departments and ministries has become loud and clear after the government…

last month appointed eight out of 11 new joint secretaries in one go, from non-IAS services. First, here are the five new appointments:

1. Subramanya MS Rao, 2000 batch Indian Statistical Service officer, has been appointed as director in department of personnel and training, DoPT.

2. Anshuman Sharma, 2005 batch IRS-IT officer, has been appointed as deputy secretary in department of financial services under ministry of finance.

3. Rashi Sharma, 2003 batch IPoS officer, has been appointed as deputy secretary in department of school education under HRD ministry.

4. Hanif Qureshi, 1996 batch Haryana cadre IPS officer, has been appointed as director in the ministry of drinking water and sanitation.

5. Girish Chandrashekhar Hosur, 1996 batch Himachal Pradesh cadre Indian Forest Service (IFoS) officer, has been appointed as director in department of school education.

Earlier on January 22, the government appointed eight non-IAS joint secretaries in one go, out of 11 new joint secretary-level appointments. That included an IPS officer in the department of heavy industries, three from Central Secretariat Service (CSS) including in the ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and department of consumer affairs, and one each from Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS), Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IAAS), Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) and Indian Forest Service (IFS). For example, Mukesh Nigam, a 1985 batch Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) officer was appointed as additional DGFT under the department of commerce, and Indian Forest Service officer ML Srivastava found his place as a joint secretary in the ministry of culture.