Sanjay Kothari appointed as Secy to President, Ashok Malik as Press Secy

Former Haryana IAS officer and Chairman Public Enterprises Selection Board Sanjay Kothari has been appointed as the Secretary to the new President.

Ram Nath Kovind, former Bihar Governor, was on Thursday elected as the new head of state to succeed incumbent President Pranab Mukherjee, who completes his five-year term on Monday.

According to an order issued on Friday night, senior Gujarat-cadre forest service officer Bharat Lal will be Joint Secretary to Kovind.

Lal, a 1988-batch officer of Indian Forest Service, is at present Resident Commissioner of Gujarat government in Delhi.

Senior journalist Ashok Malik has been appointed as Press Secretary to the new President. Malik is at present Distinguished Fellow, Observer Research Foundation--a policy think tank.

The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has approved the appointment to the post for the initial period of two years.

NDA candidate Kovind defeated the joint opposition's nominee Meira Kumar, a former Lok Sabha speaker, garnering more than 65% of the votes in the electoral college.