Senior bureaucrat Arunish Chawla assumed the position of Secretary, Department of Revenue, on Thursday. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved Chawla’s appointment as Revenue Secretary on Wednesday.
A 1992-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from the Bihar cadre, Chawla had been serving as Secretary in the Department of Pharmaceuticals under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers since 1 November 2023.
He will continue to hold the additional charge of secretary of the Ministry of Culture till the appointment of a regular incumbent, the appointments committee of the cabinet said in a notification on Wednesday.
The position of Revenue Secretary became vacant after Sanjay Malhotra was appointed Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Ajay Seth, Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs, had been given additional responsibility as Revenue Secretary. Arunish Chawla will now take over the role.
Amit Agrawal, Chief Executive Officer of the Unique Identification Authority of India, will succeed Chawla as the new Pharmaceuticals Secretary.
A doctorate holder in Economics from the London School of Economics, Chawla has held several key positions, including Managing Director of the Metro Rail Project in Patna.
He has also undertaken foreign assignments via the Department of Economic Affairs, serving as Senior Economist at the International Monetary Fund; Minister (Economic) at the Embassy of India in Washington DC; and as Joint Secretary in the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, according to a statement from the finance ministry.
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