Arvind Mayaram shifted twice in 2 weeks, now to Minority Affairs ministry

In a sudden development, senior IAS officer Arvind Mayaram was on Thursday made Secretary of the Ministry of Minority Affairs, two weeks after he was shifted from the post of Finance Secretary to the Tourism Ministry.

The new order came even before Mayaram had assumed charge as the Tourism Secretary. He has now taken over as the Minority Affairs Secretary in the afternoon today, officials of the ministry said. Mayaram has been appointed as the Minority Affairs Secretary in place of Lalit K Panwar, DoPT said. Panwar, a 1979-batch Rajasthan cadre IAS officer, has been appointed as the new Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, it said.

The Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) had earlier approved cancellation of the order appointing Mayaram, a 1978- batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, as Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, according to a statement issued on Thursday by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). Mayaram was replaced as the Finance Secretary on Oct. 15 by Rajiv Mehrishi, who was the Rajasthan Chief Secretary.

Also, ACC has approved that Ratan P Watal, Secretary, Department of Expenditure, Finance Ministry, will hold, with immediate effect, additional charge as Finance Secretary for a period of one month or until the assumption of charge by Mehrishi, whichever is earlier, or until further orders, it said. Watal is a 1978-batch IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre.