Rasaal Dwivedi (IRS) completes central deputation, relieved as Hardeep Puri’s private secretary

New Delhi: Rasaal Dwivedi, a 2011-batch Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise) officer serving as Private Secretary to Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, has been relieved following completion of his central deputation tenure, paving the way for his return to the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC).

The Petroleum Ministry’s Office dated September 15, relieved him with effect from that afternoon. The order also records that the officer is clear from the vigilance angle.

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From Mumbai Customs to the minister’s office

Dwivedi’s move into ministerial-office work can be traced to June 2019. A Mumbai Customs disposition record lists him as a Deputy Commissioner in the Marine and Preventive wing and states that he was relieved on June 19, 2019, to report to the Department of Commerce.

His responsibilities in Customs included administration, establishment, vigilance and the Marine and Preventive Intelligence Unit-III.

The CBIC civil list separately records him as being on deputation from June 20, 2019. By March 2021, he was serving as Additional Private Secretary to Puri.

In March 2021, the government approved his appointment as Private Secretary at Deputy Secretary level in the Department of Commerce. Puri then held the housing and urban affairs, civil aviation and commerce and industry portfolios.

The appointment provided for a five-year tenure, subject to conditions including its being co-terminus with the minister.

Shift to petroleum and reappointment in 2024

A Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) order dated July 30, 2021, approved Dwivedi’s appointment as Private Secretary to Puri in the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry. The appointment covered the balance of his five-year Private Secretary tenure, up to March 15, 2026, subject to the specified conditions.

In January 2025, his Private Secretary post was redesignated at Director level. This distinguishes the five-year tenure counted from March 2021 from his earlier deputation entry in the CBIC civil list, which dates to June 2019.

Six-month extension ends

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet subsequently approved a six-month extension beyond March 15, 2026, taking his tenure to September 15, 2026. His relieving date therefore matches the endpoint specified in the extension order.

Counting from March 16, 2021, the Private Secretary tenure and extension together cover five-and-a-half years. The broader record of his deputation assignments goes back more than seven years.

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Engineering and management background

Dwivedi holds a mechanical engineering degree from NIT Raipur and a postgraduate diploma in management in finance and strategy from IIM Kozhikode. The CBIC civil list records him at Additional Commissioner grade, separately from his ministerial-office designation.

The September 15 order closes his Petroleum Ministry assignment and enables his return to CBIC under the Department of Revenue.

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