New Delhi: Expenditure Secretary Ashok Lavasa, a Haryana cadre IAS officer, was today designated as the Finance Secretary.
The post has been lying vacant since his predecessor Ratan Watal retired in April. As per the convention, the senior-most among the five secretaries in Finance Ministry is designated as the Finance Secretary.
Lavasa is from 1980 batch, while his batchmate Shaktikanta Das currently serves as Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, in the Finance Ministry.
Das is senior to Lavasa in age by eight months, but Lavasa ranked higher in the merit list of the 1980 batch. Das retires in February next, while Lavasa will superannuate in October, 2017.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved designating Lavasa as the Finance Secretary, an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training said.
Lavasa was shifted from the Environment Ministry to the Finance Ministry after Watal’s retirement on April 30. Later, Watal was named Principal Advisor in NITI Aayog.
While Hasmukh Adhia is the Revenue Secretary, Anjuly Chib Duggal is Secretary, Department of Financial Services and Neeraj Kumar Gupta is Secretary in Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM).
Duggal and Adhia are 1981-batch IAS officers, while Gupta is from the 1982 batch.