A total of 10 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers have been given in-situ upgradation to the level of Special Secretary in the rank and pay of Secretary of central government by temporarily upgrading the posts held by them. Besides, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved three months extension in service of Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan, said a Ministry of Personnel order.

 

A 1983 batch IAS officer from the Andhra Pradesh cadre, Sudan was to retire from the service on April 30. The ACCT approved her extension for a period of "three months beyond the date of her superannuation on April 30, 2020 or until further orders, whichever is earlier". Sudan, who has been working on aligning all departments to execute the Modi government's policies to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus or COVID-19 disease, will continue to function as Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare during the period.

 

Sudan is usually seen leaving her office at Nirman Bhawan late at night. An M.Phil. in Economics and postgraduate in Social Policy and Planning from the London School of Economics, Sudan also served the World Bank in Washington as a consultant.

 

Her ministry is the nodal agency for fighting the present coronavirus challenge. Sudan, along with Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, coordinates with sister departments in the central and state government. The two conduct regular reviews of the evolving situation.

 

A 1985-batch IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre Amit Khare has been appointed additional charge of the post of Secretary in Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on appointment of IAS Ravi Mittal as Secretary Department of Sports. He is the Secretary in the Department of Higher Education.

 

IAS Ravi Kant, Secretary of Department of Food and Public Distribution has been appointed as Secretary to Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare in Ministry of Defence upon superannuation of present incumbent Sanjeevanee Kutty on April 30. Secretary in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Anand Kumar has been appointed as Secretary to the Ministry of Culture.

 

Of the 23 IAS officers appointed in different branches include three women officers -- Satbir Bedi, Leena Nandan and Anita Karwal. IAS Jyoti Arora, B. Anand, Neel Kamal Darbari, Bidyut Bihari Swain, Apurva Chandra, Rajiv Bansal, Ali Raza Rizvi, Praveen Kr. Srivastava, Arvind Singh and Indevar Pandey are those officers who got ACC approval in situ-upgradation to the level of Special Secretary in the rank and pay of Secretary.