The appointments were cleared by the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet, chaired by PM Narendra Modi.

In a first, the Union government on Friday appointed nine private sector specialists in various fields as joint secretaries in various ministries under its lateral recruitment policy.

The appointments were cleared by the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The nine joint secretaries from among the private sector experts have been appointed for a period of three years or till further orders, whichever is earlier, said a government notification.

They have been deputed to various ministries "in Level 14 of the pay matrix as per the Seventh Central Pay Commission", said the notification, adding their appointments will be effective from the day they assume charges.

Those who were appointed are: Kakoli Ghosh (Ministry of Agriculture), Amber Dubey (Civil Aviation), Arun Goel (Commerce), Rajeev Saksena (Economic Affairs), Sujit Kumar Bajpayee (Environment, Forests).

Others are: Saurabh Mishra (Financial Services), Dinesh Dayanand Jagdale (New and Renewable Energy), Suman Prasad Singh (Road Transport and Highways) and Bhushan Kumar (Shipping).

The posts of joint secretaries are manned by officers of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Forest Service (IFoS)) and Indian Revenue Service (IRS) among others who are selected through a three-phased rigorous selection process undertaken by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievancers and Pension had invited applications for the posts of joint secretary-rank officers through "lateral entry" mode in June last year.

The lateral entry mode, which relates to the appointment of specialists from private sector in government organisations, is considered as an ambitious step of the Modi government to bring in fresh talent in bureaucracy.