NEW DELHI — In a major administrative overhaul, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on Thursday announced the transfer and promotion of 17 senior bureaucrats across key Union ministries.

The reshuffle includes pivotal leadership changes within the Ministry of Education:

  • Department of Higher Education: Naresh Pal Gangwar (1994-batch IAS) has been appointed as Secretary. He replaces Vineet Joshi (1992-batch IAS), who moves to the Ministry of Panchayati Raj as Secretary following the retirement of Vivek Bhardwaj on July 31.

  • Department of School Education & Literacy: T.K. Anil Kumar (1995-batch IAS) steps in as Secretary, moving up from his previous role as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Rural Development.

Key Secretarial Appointments & Transfers

  • Mines Ministry: Keshav Chandra (1996-batch AGMUT-cadre IAS) takes over as the new Mines Secretary. He replaces outgoing Secretary Piyush Goyal, who has been appointed Secretary General of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

  • Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA): Katikithala Srinivas transfers to the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) as Secretary. Meanwhile, D. Thara (1996-batch IAS) and Satendra Singh (1996-batch IAS) take charge as Secretaries for Capital Development and Urban Development within MoHUA, respectively.

  • Ministry of Labour & Employment: Chandra Bhushan Kumar (AGMUT-cadre IAS) takes charge as Secretary following the retirement of Vandana Gurnani on July 31.

  • LBSNAA: B. Rajender (1996-batch IAS) will serve as Director of the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in the rank and pay of a Secretary, taking over upon Sriram Taranikanti's retirement on July 31.

  • Official Language: Archana Varma (1996-batch IAS) becomes Secretary in the Department of Water Resources before assuming charge as Secretary, Department of Official Language (Ministry of Home Affairs), upon Ansuli Arya’s retirement on September 30.

  • Minority Affairs: Suchindra Misra (1992-batch IDAS) takes over as Secretary of the National Commission for Minorities.

  • Animal Husbandry: Sushil Kumar Lohani (1996-batch IAS) has been posted as Officer on Special Duty in the rank and pay of a Secretary.

In-Situ Upgradations

The ACC also approved the in-situ elevation of four officers to the rank and pay of a Secretary:

  1. Mritunjay Kumar Narayan — Registrar General & Census Commissioner of India

  2. Santosh Kumar Yadav — Chairman, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)

  3. Rajeev Singh Thakur — Advisor, NITI Aayog

  4. Dilip Kumar — Director General (Training), Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship