The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has cleared a comprehensive reshuffle of senior-level officials, involving the appointment of 27 civil servants to various joint secretary-level and equivalent positions. Among the key changes, the Centre has appointed Prakash Rajpurohit, a 2010-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from the Rajasthan cadre, as the new Deputy Election Commissioner. According to an order issued by the Personnel Ministry, Mr. Rajpurohit will hold this office until April 8, 2030, succeeding outgoing official Sanjay Kumar.
As part of the same administrative exercise, Vivek Khare, an officer of the 1996-batch Indian Telecom Service (ITS), has been appointed as the Joint Secretary at the National Testing Agency (NTA). Mr. Khare previously served as a Director at the Central Vigilance Commission. The reshuffle encompasses a wide array of central ministries and departments, reflecting significant internal mobility within the bureaucracy.
Multiple high-level appointments were confirmed across key government bodies. Ravi Shankar, Chittaranjan Dash, P Manoj Kumar, and Abhishek Bhagotia have been posted as Joint Secretaries in the Ministry of Home Affairs. Furthermore, Varnali Deka has been appointed Joint Secretary at the National Health Authority, while Tamboli Ayyaj Fakirbhai will assume the role of Executive Director at the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). Other notable appointments include Sonia Pant as an adviser at NITI Aayog and Nikhil Varma as Additional Director General of Foreign Trade in Delhi.
In a separate development, the ACC approved the premature repatriation of IAS officer Govind Jaiswal to his parent cadre. Mr. Jaiswal, a 2007-batch officer of the AGMUT cadre, was previously serving as Joint Secretary in the Department of Higher Education. These transitions are part of the ongoing administrative efforts by the government to fill critical roles across various ministries, commissions, and regulatory authorities to ensure the smooth functioning of public service delivery.
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