Govt gives 2 years extension to lateral entrant Joint Secretaries

New Delhi: The Centre has given a two-year extension to six 'lateral entrants' who were inducted as joint secretaries in central government ministries in 2019, according to a source. The government had advertised 10 vacancies for Joint Secretaries in different departments. However, only nine candidates were shortlisted from more than 6,000 applicants and eight joined as joint secretaries.

While Arun Goel, JS DPIIT, resigned after two years and returned to the private sector, Amber Dubey who joined the Civil Aviation Ministry has desired to return to the private sector after three years and therefore his case has not been considered.

Those who have given extensions as joint secretaries are Sujit Kumar Bajpayee (Environment, Forest and Climate Change), Saurabh Mishra (Ministry of Finance), Rajeev Saksena (Economic Affairs), Dinesh Dayanand Jagadale (New and Renewable Energy), Suman Prasad Singh (Road Transport and Highways) and Bhushan Kumar (Ministry of Shipping).

The eight joint secretaries from the private sector had been appointed in September 2019 for a period of three years.

They have been deputed to various ministries "in Level 14 of the pay matrix as per the Seventh Central Pay Commission".

According to the source, all lateral entrants have secured high ranking in their annual appraisals.

He said the government is taking care of the lateral entrants and ensuring that they don't face any issue in working in a cadre-based and old-styled bureaucracy.

"PM Modi had separate physical meetings with JS (lateral entrants) and also interacted with all of them through video conferencing during the COVID and sought suggestions for improvement in bureaucratic culture," the source added.

The Principal Secretary to PM and the Cabinet Secretary also held several meetings with them to formulate a policy for lateral hiring in the government.

"Lateral hiring is also one of major agenda for Sectoral Groups of Secretaries (SGoS) working on preparing the blueprint for Amrit Kal @2047," the source said.

The posts of joint secretaries are manned by officers of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Forest Service (IFoS)) and Indian Revenue Service (IRS) among others who are selected through a three-phased rigorous selection process undertaken by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension had invited applications for the posts of joint secretary-rank officers through "lateral entry" mode in June 2018.

The lateral entry mode, which relates to the appointment of specialists from the private sector in government organisations, is considered an ambitious step of the Modi government to bring fresh talent into the bureaucracy.

(With PTI inputs)

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