Frank Noronha Retires as PIB Chief, Sitanshu Kar Takes Over

File photo of Frank Noronha (centre) talking at an event.

(Photo: PIB India)

Frank Noronha, the Principal Director General of the Press Information Bureau (PIB), retired on Monday. He was succeeded by senior IIS officer Sitanshu Kar on Tuesday.

Noronha, a 1982-batch Indian Information Service (IIS) officer, was appointed as the head of the PIB in August 2014.

"As I retire today as the Principal Director General, PIB, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your generous cooperation and support throughout my stint,” Noronha said in a message to journalists.

It was a great pleasure interacting with you. You have not only enriched my professional life, but also made my job such a pleasure.

Frank Noronha, former PIB Principal Director General

Kar, who was serving as the All India Radio's News Services Division (NSD) director general, was transferred in March as the director general of the PIB, New Delhi, so as to familiarise himself, before taking charge of the bureau on 1 May 2018, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry had said earlier.

Prior to his posting in the AIR in November 2015, Kar was serving as the spokesperson of the defence ministry.

A 1983-batch IIS officer, Kar had joined the defence ministry in 2005.