New Delhi: Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth was today given a six-month extension in service, third time after he was appointed to the top bureaucratic post. The extension of Seth was approved by Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The ACC has approved extension of Seth as Cabinet Secretary for a further period of six months beyond December 13, an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said.
Seth, a 1974-batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, had taken over as Cabinet Secretary on June 14, 2011 with a fixed tenure upto June 13, 2013. The UPA government had extended his tenure by a year. The Modi-government had given six-month extension to Seth in June.
He was due to retire on December 13.
Born on November 24, 1951, Seth is known to be a meticulous bureaucrat.
Seth's predecessor K M Chandrasekar, who retired in June 2011, was given two year-long extensions in 2009 and 2010. Chandrasekar, who was appointed as Cabinet Secretary on June 14, 2007, had served for four years.
The Cabinet Secretariat is under the direct charge of the Prime Minister. The administrative head of the Secretariat is the Cabinet Secretary who is also the ex-officio Chairman of the Civil Services Board.
The Cabinet Secretariat assists in decision-making in government by ensuring inter-ministerial coordination, ironing out differences amongst ministries or departments and evolving consensus through the instrumentality of the standing or adhoc committees of secretaries.
