New Delhi: Senior IAS officer Rajiv Gauba Thursday took charge as the Union Home Secretary after incumbent Rajiv Mehrishi retired from service.He will have a fixed two-year tenure. Meanwhile government in a major administrative reshuffle has appointed former IAS Officer Sunil Arora as the Chief Election Commissioner and outgoing home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi as the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG)
A 1982 batch officer of Jharkhand cadre, 58-year-old Rajiv Gauba was appointed as the home secretary about two months ago and since then he has been serving in the home ministry as Officer on Special Duty (OSD).
Gauba had served as secretary in the Union urban development ministry before being appointed in the sensitive post.
Earlier, he had worked in the home ministry as additional secretary, looking after crucial left wing extremism division, among many other responsibilities.
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 in 1958, Gauba had graduated in Physics from Patna University.
He had served in Jharkhand as the chief secretary for 15 months before joining the central government last year.
Gauba has also served in the central government’s ministries of home, defence, finance and environment and forests in different positions.
He represented India on the board of International Monetary Fund for four years.
As the Union home secretary, he will be handling issues like internal security, militancy in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast, Maoist problems in the central and east India besides other issues.
Meanwhile government in a major bureaucratic reshuffle appointed former IAS Officer Sunil Arora as the Chief Election Commissioner and outgoing home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi as the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG). Mehrishi’s tenure as union home secretary ended on Thursday. He was replaced by Rajiv Gauba.
After Nasim Zaidi retired as Chief Election Commissioner in July, there was a vacancy in the poll panel. While Achal Kumar Joti is the CEC, Om Prakash Rawat is the other Election Commissioner. Arora’s appointment will be with effect from the day he assumes charge, a law ministry notification said. Arora (61) had been the Information and Broadcasting Secretary, and Secretary in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
Meanwhile, senior bureaucrat Rajiv Kumar was appointed Secretary in the Department of Financial Services (DFS) while Anita Karwal was named CBSE chairperson as 17 IAS officers were appointed in various central government departments. Karwal, a Gujarat-cadre IAS officer, was appointed in place of Rajesh Kumar Chaturvedi, who will now be the director general of National Skill Development Agency,
Kumar, a 1984 batch IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre, is at present Special Secretary and Establishment Officer, Ministry of Personnel. He was appointed to the post in place of Anjuly Chib Duggal, who superannuated Thursday, an order issued by Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said.
