NEW DELHI: Without clearing the UPSC civil services exam, nine non-governmental professionals were appointed at joint-secretary level posts in various central government departments and ministries.
Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Friday released the names of the selected candidates.
This is perhaps the first time ever in India that appointed of professionals mostly from the private sector is done through the lateral entry as opposed to the UPSC examinations.
Those nine selected private sector specialists appointed as joint secretaries are:
| Name of the selected candidates | Post |
| Amber Dubey | Civil aviation |
| Arun Goel | Commerce |
| Rajeev Saksena | Economic Affairs |
| Sujit Kumar Bajpayee | environment, forest and climate change |
| Saurabh Mishra | Financial services |
| Dinesh Dayanand Jagdale | New and renewable energy |
| Suman Prasad Singh | Road transport and highways ministry |
| Bhushan Kumar | Shipping |
| Kokoli Ghosh | Agriculture, cooperation and farmers welfare |
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Joint Secretaries are at a crucial level of senior management in the government and lead policy making as well as implementation of various programmes and schemes of the department assigned to them. They report to the Secretary or the Additional Secretary in the respective ministries.
The joint secretary post is usually filled through the competitive exams conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
As many as 6,077 applications for the same had been invited in June last year (2018) by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
Of these, 89 were short-listed for the interview for the joint secretary-rank posts under the lateral entry scheme announced by the Narendra Modi-led-NDA government last year.
According to sources, the newly selected joint secretaries are expected to join in the next two months. They will have a term of three-years which could be, depending upon their performance extended to five years.
The move is unprecedented since the joint secretary posts are traditionally occupied by civil servants, a majority of whom have been from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Forest Service (IFoS)) and Indian Revenue Service (IRS).
The move also drawn criticism from the serving and retired members of the Indian bureaucracy.