Cabinet Secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha was on Monday, 7 May, given one year extension, till mid-June 2019. The Appointments Committee of Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved his extension to the top post for an year beyond 12 June, an order issued by Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said.
Sixty-one-year-old Sinha was named the Cabinet Secretary in May 2015 named him for a fixed two-year term. He took over the new assignment on 13 June, prior to which he was serving as the Power Secretary.
Sinha, a 1977 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, had succeeded Ajit Seth who held the position for four years.
He had also served as the shipping secretary, and has also held several other important positions in the Union government and in his cadre state.
The Cabinet secretariat is under the direct charge of the Prime Minister, and the administrative head of the secretariat is the Cabinet Secretary, who also serves as the ex-officio chairman of the civil services board.
The Cabinet secretariat assists in decision-making in government by ensuring inter-ministerial coordination, ironing out differences amongst ministries or departments, and evolving consensus through the instrumentality of the standing or ad hoc committees of secretaries.
(With PTI inputs.)
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