New Delhi: Senior IAS officer Ajay Kumar was appointed as the new Secretary, Defence Production, in the Defence Ministry on Tuesday , a government notification said.
A 1985-batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre, Kumar is at present Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. He has been appointed to the new post with effect from December 1, a government order said.
The appointment comes at a time when government is majorly pushing for indigenisation production of defence equipment.
Kumar will head the department which deals with matters pertaining to defence production, and has a slew of defence production organisations including the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and a number of other defence PSUs under it.
The post had been lying vacant since incumbent Ashok Kumar Gupta retired on October 31.
Apurva Chandra, a 1988 batch IAS officer from Maharashtra, who is presently Additional Secretary, Defence Production was meanwhile made the Additional Secretary and Director General Acquisition in the Defence Ministry on a lateral shift.
The vacancy was caused on relinquishment of charge by the present Additional Secretary Smita Nagraj, who was appointed as a Member, UPSC.
Upendra Prasad Singh, who was holding the post of Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, was made Secretary following superannuation of the incumbent Amarjit Singh who retires on November 30. Singh will also hold additional charge of CEO, National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG).
Three other IAS officers- Bureau of Indian Standards Director General Surina Ranjan, Additional Secretary in Department of Revenue Arun Goyal and Additional Secretary in Human Resources Development Ministry R. Subrahmanyam - all 1985 batch IAS officers, were meanwhile given an upgradation by upgrading the post held by them to the post of Secretary as their immediate junior Ajay Kumar was made the Secretary, Defence Production.