Utsav Mitra, a non-government official, has been appointed as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Power Minister Piyush Goyal.
Mitra has been appointed on a contract basis for five years or till the tenure of the Minister, according to an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training.
As per rules, a clearance from Intelligence Bureau (IB) is mandatory for appointment of a private person as OSD to a Minister. Ministry of Finance also needs to give its permission to create a post of OSD for such persons.
Mitra's appointment was effected from July 10, the date on which the Department of Expenditure had conveyed its "no-objection" for creation of the post of OSD in the personal staff of the Minister and the date on which the final report of IB verification was conveyed, the order said.
Before this appointment, former government employee Brahm Dutt was appointed as private secretary to Rao Inderjit Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Planning, Statistics and Programme Implementation. Dutt retired as Joint Secretary from the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
Rao Inderjit Singh is also Minister of State for Defence.
The Centre has also approved appointment of D N Singh, a 1987 batch officer of Delhi, Andaman Nicobar Island Civil Services (DANICS), as private secretary to Harsh Vardhan, Minister for Health and Family Welfare.
Singh has been appointed for five years or till the Minister's tenure ends, as per his appointment order.
