New Delhi: In a major bureaucratic reshuffle, the government has replaced Department of Financial Services (DFS) Secretary Gurdial Singh Sandhu with Gujarat-cadre IAS officer Hasmukh Adhia and made over 60 Special and Joint Secretary-level appointments.
Sandhu, a 1980-batch Rajasthan cadre IAS officer, has been made Chairman of the National Authority for Chemical Weapons Convention, according to a late night order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
Adhia, a 1981-batch IAS officer, is presently working as Additional Chief Secretary in the Finance Department of Gujarat government. He served as the Principal Secretary of Education Department from April, 2008, to January, 2013, and as Principal Secretary to Narendra Modi from May, 2004, to May, 2006, when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat.
Prior to that, he was Director from 1994 to 1999 in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion under the Ministry of Industry at New Delhi. Adhia has also held the position of Industries Commissioner, Managing Director, Gujarat Industrial Investment Corporation, as well as Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation.
The government had earlier transferred former Revenue Secretary Rajiv Takru to the Department of North Eastern Region. It had also shifted ex-Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram, first to the Tourism Ministry and then, within a fortnight, to the Minority Affairs Ministry.
DoPT has also issued orders for appointment of 26 Special Secretary-level officers and 35 at the level of Joint Secretary.
The Vice Chairman of Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Balvender Kumar, has been promoted in the rank and pay of Secretary.
Senior IAS officers Rajiv Nayan Choubey and Devendra Chaudhary have been appointed as Special Secretaries in the Ministry of Power.
The Appointments Committee of Cabinet, led by the Prime Minister, had on June 18 cancelled the appointment of Choubey as Additional Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office.
