The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has sanctioned a significant bureaucratic reshuffle involving more than 40 senior officers from the IAS and Allied Services for various roles in central ministries and departments. Among the changes are the appointment of a Special Secretary and several Additional Secretaries. Additionally, temporary upgradations of posts have been included as part of the administrative restructuring.
Key appointments at the Special Secretary & DG level include Suchindra Misra as the new Special Secretary of the Department of Commerce, and Lav Aggarwal moving to the Ministry of Commerce & Industry as Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). Srikant Nagulapalli has been appointed as Director General of Hydrocarbons in the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas.
At the Additional Secretary level, Rabindra Kumar Agarwal has been shifted to the post of Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) of Food Corporation of India (FCI), while Ashutosh Agnihotri takes over as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change. Aneeta C Meshram moves to the President’s Secretariat as Additional Secretary, and Solomon Arokiaraj transitions to the Cabinet Secretariat as Additional Secretary.
Other appointments in the reshuffle include Dilip Kumar as Director General (Training) in the Ministry of Skill Development, Caralyn Khongwar Deshmukh as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Women & Child Development, and Anandrao Vishnu Patil as Additional Secretary in the Department of Higher Education.
In-situ upgradations of Secretary & Additional Secretary ranks have also been granted by the ACC, with Asit Gopal appointed as Special Secretary & Financial Advisor in the Ministry of Textiles, and Ramesh Krishnamurthi taking on the role of Central Provident Fund Commissioner (EPFO). Thirteen officers were upgraded in-situ to the Additional Secretary level, including Mukesh Mangal in Shipping, Meenaxi Rawat at BPCL, Archana Sharma Awasthi in School Education, and Nitesh Kumar Mishra in Youth Affairs.
