The central government Friday appointed Steel Secretary G. Mohan Kumar as defence production secretary while Ashok Lavasa was made environment and forests secretary, an official statement said Friday.
According to the appointments cleared by the appointments committee of the cabinet, Rakesh Singh, an 1978 batch IAS officer of Punjab cadre, will replace Kumar as steel secretary.
Kumar is a 1979 batch IAS officer of Odisha cadre while Lavasa is a 1980 batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre.
V. Somasundaran, a 1979 batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre, was appointed as secretary with the civil aviation ministry.
Sunil Arora, a 1980 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre, was appointed secretary in the newly-created department of skill development and entrepreneurship.
The department functions under the skill development, entrepreneurship, youth affairs and sports ministry.