india

Updated: Jul 25, 2019 08:22 IST

Subhash Chandra Garg, the economic affairs secretary who was designated Finance Secretary just a little over four months back, was shifted out as power secretary in a major bureaucratic reshuffle ordered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.

Garg was the senior-most bureaucrat in the Finance Ministry and a key figure associated with the maiden budget of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet orders do not cite any reasons for the changes.

Garg, a Rajasthan cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, has been replaced by Atanu Chakraborty, who will take over as the secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs. Chakraborty is a Gujarat cadre IAS officer of the 1985 batch.

The practice at North Block is to designate the senior-most of the five secretaries in the finance ministry as the finance secretary. This decision will, however, be taken by the ACC later.

A senior retired bureaucrat who did not want to be named said it was unusual to transfer the finance secretary to the power ministry and appeared “to be a punishment”.

A senior government official, however, rejected the suggestion, underlining that all secretaries to the government are “important” and it is a “matter of perception that a ministry is more important than others. The power ministry, the official said, “is a crucial ministry considering the Prime Minister’s focus electrifying the entire country by 2022.”

As part of the reshuffle, power secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla has been appointed as officer on special duty at the Home Ministry to give him time to familarise himself with the ministry by the time Rajiv Gauba steps down next month on expiry of his term. Bhalla is an Assam Meghalaya cadre IAS officer of 1984-batch,

Ravi Capoor, a 1986 batch Assam and Meghalaya cadre IAS officer, has been appointed as secretary, ministry of textiles.

Anil Kumar Khachi, a 1986 batch Himachal Pradesh cadre IAS officer, has been appointed as secretary to the Department of Investment and Public Asset management.

Anshu Prakash, the former Chief Secretary of Delhi who had spat with the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, has been appointed as the next Telecom Secretary. Among other things, Anshu Prakash will manage the introduction of 5 G technology in India.

In addition, Union Cabinet promoted eleven other IAS officers as Special Secretary to Government of India. These include Subash Chandra, Anil Kumar Jain, Sanjeev Nandan Sahai, Ravi Mittal in the ministries of defence, environment, power and finance respectively.