IAS officer Nitesh Jha has been appointed as the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Home Minister Rajnath Singh, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi put on hold the appointment of an IPS officer as his Private Secretary.
Jha, a 2002 batch Uttrakhand cadre officer, was earlier working with the state government's education department.
This would be 37-year-old officer's first deputation to the Centre.
The appointment of IPS officer Alok Singh as Home MInister's Private Secretary was put on hold following the government directive. Alok had served as PS to External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid in UPA government.
Meanwhile, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju has finally got a Private Secretary - Vikas Anand, a 2002 batch IPS officer, who has replaced IPS officer Abhinav Kumar.
Kumar, who was Rijiju's first choice, had been with former minister of state for HRD Shashi Tharoor in UPA government. He had started functioning with the new Minister but a government directive on June 19 forced his ouster.
"It has been decided by the competent authority that any officer/official/private person who has worked earlier in the staff of a minister in any capacity for any duration may not be appointed as personal staff of ministers in the present government," the circular said.
According to sources, Abhinav has already handed over responsibility to Anand.
