Defence production and ex-servicemen secretaries are on leave; defence secretary Sanjay Mitra given additional charge; Also, list of temporary upgradation/down-gradation of 6 posts

TWO union secretaries under the ministry of defence are on leave between December 29 and January 6. And the appointments committee of the cabinet (ACC) bestowed the additional charge of both the posts to defence secretary and 1982 batch West Bengal cadre IAS, Sanjay Mitra. So, Mitra will take additional charge of the post of secretary, department of defence production currently held by 1985 batch Kerala cadre IAS, Dr Ajay Kumar and also the post of…

secretary of the department of ex-servicemen welfare being held by Ms Sanjeevanee Kutty, a 1983 batch Maharashtra cadre IAS. Both Kumar and Ms Kutty are on leave now. 

Meanwhile, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet last week approved the extension in temporary upgradation/down-gradation of the following posts for a further period of one year as under:

A) Extension of upgradation of the post of joint secretary to the level of additional secretary in the ministry of electronics and information technology, presently held by Pankaj Kumar, 1987 batch Nagaland cadre lAS, for a period of one year beyond July 28, 2018;

B) Extension of upgradation of the post of joint secretary to the level of additional secretary and FA in the department of youth affairs, presently held by Ms Kiran Soni Gupta, 1985 batch Rajasthan cadre lAS, for a period of one year beyond October 12, 2018;

C) Extension of upgradation of the post of deputy Election Commissioner, Election Commission of India, from the level of joint secretary to that of additional Secretary, presently held by Umesh Sinha, 1986 batch UP cadre lAS, for a period of one year beyond July 13, 2018; 

D) Extension of upgradation of the post of Senior Directing Staff, National Defence College, from the level of joint secretary to that of additional secretary, presently held by Abhay Tripathi, 1986 batch Andhra cadre lAS, for a period of one year beyond July 13, 2018; 

E) Extension of upgradation of the post of joint secretary to the level of additional secretary in the department of financial services, presently held by Ravi Mittal, 1986 batch Bihar lAS, for a period of one year beyond July 13, 2018;

F) Extension of down-gradation of the post of additional secretary to joint secretary in the department of atomic energy, presently held by Stephen M Alexander, 1987 batch Indian Postal Service (IPoS), for a period of one year beyond August 3, 2018. 

In another development, 2002 batch Indian Postal Service (IPoS) officer, Aman Sharma, has been laterally shifted from the post of director, Government e Marketplace (GeM), an SPV under the ministry of commerce to a new assignment — as director in the ministry of steel. GeM is a relatively new entity created to facilitate online procurement of common use goods and services required by various government departments, organisations and public sector enterprises. 

Also, Archana Srivastava, a deputy secretary in the Lok Sabha secretariat, has been appointed as officer on special duty (OSD) to the minister of state for women and child development and minority affairs, Dr Virendra Kumar, at the level of a GoI deputy secretary.