He was previously the power secretary.Power Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla was Wednesday appointed as Officer on Special Duty in the Ministry of Home Affairs. He is likely to take over the charge of Home Secretary on September 1, a day after the incumbent, Rajiv Gauba, retires.
An order of the Department of Personnel and Training on Wednesday said that the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet had appointed Bhalla as OSD in the MHA “with immediate effect”.
According to MHA sources, Bhalla would take over from Gauba on September 1 and the intervening period would be utilised for familiarisation with the ministry.
The order also said that Arundhati Mitra, Member (Finance) of the Digital Communication Commission, was being appointed as Secretary in the MHA’s Department of Languages against the existing vacancy.
A 1984-batch IAS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, Bhalla has a wide range of experience in Assam and Meghalaya as well as at the Centre. Before joining the Power Ministry as Secretary, Bhalla served as Director in the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). Before DGFT, Bhalla was Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce.
In Assam and Meghalaya, Bhalla has served as commissioner, principal secretary in public health engineering, industries, soil and water conservation departments and has also served as chairman of board of revenue.
An MPhil in social sciences from Panjab University and holding an MBA degree from Qeensland in Australia, Bhalla did his masters in botany from Delhi University. He has also served as Personal Secretary to the Union Minister of State for Health and Minister of State for External Affairs.
According to the order, R S Shukla, a 1986-batch IAS officer from West Bengal cadre, was appointed as the Secretary of Parliamentary Affairs. Ravi Capoor, a 1986-batch Assam-Meghalaya cadre officer, was appointed Secretary (Textiles) while his batchmate Atul Chaturvedi was made Secretary (Animal Husbandry and Dairying).
Another Gujarat cadre officer P D Vaghela of the 1986-batch will be the new Secretary in the Department of Pharmaceuticals, the order stated.
