New Delhi: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Friday published a final list of nine private sector specialists who will now take up joint secretary positions in the Government of India.
The nine have been chosen under the lateral entry scheme announced by the Modi government last year. It was part of the government’s efforts to bring in private sector talent in 10 ministries.
The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) had last year advertised for 10 joint secretary positions, but the UPSC has not been able to find a private sector candidate for the Department of Revenue in the Ministry of Finance.
Although the exact profiles of some of the candidates are not available at the moment, government sources said most of them are domain specialists in the sectors they have been selected for.
The move is unprecedented as the joint secretary posts are traditionally occupied by civil servants, a majority of whom have been from the IAS.
Also read: Before UPSC, Modi govt wanted Cabinet Secy to head lateral entry recruitment panel
The candidates
The final candidates are Kakoli Ghosh for the department of agriculture cooperation and farmers welfare, Amber Dubey for the civil aviation ministry, Arun Goel for the commerce ministry, Rajeev Saksena for economic affairs, Sujit Kumar Bajpayee for environment, forest and climate change.
Saurabh Mishra has been appointed as a joint secretary for financial services, Dinesh Dayanand Jagdale for new and renewable energy, Suman Prasad Singh for road, transport and highways and Bhushan Kumar for shipping.
The nine have selected through a process that hasn’t been free of controversy. Amid initial confusion over who would conduct the recruitment, over 6,000 candidates had applied for the 10 positions before the UPSC sought additional details from the candidates.
Only 2 per cent candidates were reportedly shortlisted for the interview, which was held in the first week of April.
The lateral entry scheme was pegged by the Modi government as a civil service reform, even as it had sparked fears of political appointments to the post.
Also read: Second push for lateral entry into IAS sees applications fall by half