Friday: 5 CSS officers empaneled as GoI joint secretary; Monday: They are all appointed as JS

THE government on Friday empanelled five officers belonging to Central Secretariat Service (CSS) as joint secretary to Government of India, and in the next working day, i.e. on Monday, they were all appointed as joint secretaries, in an apparent move to assuage the unhappiness among the CSS officers who in the last week of December met minister of state for personnel and PMO Jitendra Singh to highlight their grievances. As many as 1,600 under secretaries in Government of India, in fact, were…

waiting for promotion and pay hikes for nearly four years since the submission of the CSS cadre review, the delegation of the CSS officers told the minister then. The delegation also drew attention of the minister that there were 73 vacancies at deputy secretary/director level under Central Staffing Scheme.

For the record, joint secretary is senior to both deputy secretary and the director and draws a higher salary. Deputy secretaries and the directors are in the same salary bracket though directors are senior to deputy secretaries.

The newly-appointed 5 CSS joint secretaries are:

1. Sagar Mehra

2. Gayatri Mishra

3. Vanraj A Chavda

4. Mukul Ratra 

5. VB Dubey

Another CSS officer who was also appointed as GoI joint secretary was Kimbuong Kipgen. 

Meanwhile, the government appointed Dharmvir Jha, 2001 batch Indian Statistical Service officer as director in the ministry of rural development. Also, Shashi Ranjan Kumar Vidyarthi, 2002 batch Indian Ordnance Factory Service officer, has been appointed as a director in the ministry of Ayush.