Rajiv Gauba was the key architect of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act

Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba was on Wednesday appointed as the next Cabinet Secretary for a tenure of two years.

Rajiv Gauba, a 1982-batch IAS officer of the Jharkhand cadre, will initially join as the Officer on Special Duty in the Cabinet Secretariat, before he takes over the charge of the country's top bureaucratic post from the incumbent P K Sinha.

"The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Rajiv Gauba, IAS (JH:1982) as Cabinet Secretary with a tenure of two years from 30.08.2019 or until further orders, whichever is earlier," according to an official order

"The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has also approved the appointment of Rajiv Gauba as Officer on Special Duty in the Cabinet Secretariat from the date of his assumption of charge till he takes over as Cabinet Secretary," according to the order.

Mr Gauba took charge as the Home Secretary on August 31, 2017.

Sixty-year-old Gauba had also served as secretary in the Union urban Development Ministry, Additional Secretary in the Home Ministry, looking after the crucial left wing extremism division, among many other responsibilities.

Mr Gauba has wide-ranging experience in senior positions at policy making and programme implementation in both central and state governments and in international organisations.

Born in Punjab, Mr Gauba had graduated in Physics from Patna University. He had served in Jharkhand as the chief secretary for 15 months before returning to serve in the central government in 2016.

He represented India on the board of International Monetary Fund for four years.

As the Union Home Secretary, he has handled issues such as internal security, terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast, Maoist problems in the central and east India besides other issues.

Rajiv Gauba was the key architect of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act under which Jammu and Kashmir was recently divided into two union territories following the abrogation of the special status given to the state under Article 370 of the Constitution.