New Delhi: The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved a large batch of appointments at the Joint Secretary and Joint Secretary–equivalent level (Level 14 of the Pay Matrix) across several ministries and departments of the Government of India, according to an official order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on 31 December 2025.
As per the order, Chinmay Pundlikrao Gotmare, IAS (AM:2009) has been appointed as Joint Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, while Neha Verma, IFoS (UD:2005) has also been named Joint Secretary in the same department.
Manoj Kumar Gangeya, IRTS (2000) has been appointed as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Coal.
In the Department of Commerce, the ACC approved the appointments of Amit Verma, IFoS (UD:2005), Ujjwal Kumar Ghosh, IAS (KN:2008) and Kapil Chaudhary, IRS (C&IT:2001) as Joint Secretaries.
Rahul Jain, IAS (MP:2005) has been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, while Kamlesh Kumar Mishra, IRTS (2003) has been named Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture.
The ACC also cleared the appointment of Shajan George P Verghese, CSS as Joint Secretary, Department of Defence and Tanvi Garg, IAS (UT:2009) as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Further, Hanish Chhabra, IAS (TN:2006) has been appointed Joint Secretary, Department of Food & Public Distribution and Sibin C, IAS (PB:2005) as Joint Secretary, Department of Health & Family Welfare.
Arindam Modak, ISS (1998) has been appointed Secretary (JS level), National Dental Commission (NDC).
In security and internal affairs-related postings, Satyanarain Gupta, ITS (1993) has been named Joint Secretary, National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) under the Ministry of Home Affairs, while Nishta Tiwari, IRS (IT:2005) has been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs.
The ACC also approved the appointment of Gurjeet Singh Dhillon, IOFS (2002) as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and Vinamra Mishra, IRSME (2003) as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
Keshvendra Kumar, IAS (KL:2008) has also been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of MSME after completion of his cooling-off period.
In the minerals and minority affairs sectors, Sandeep Vasant Kadam, IAS (HP:2008) has been appointed Joint Secretary-cum-Mission Head, National Critical Mineral Mission, Shyama Prasad Roy, CSS as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Minority Affairs and Atya Nand, CSS as Joint Secretary, National Commission for Minorities.
The order further appoints Jagdeep Gupta, IPoS (2004) as Joint Secretary, Capacity Building Commission and Rajiv Kumar, IOFS (2002) as Additional Secretary (JS level), Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
Aadhar Raj, IRTS (2004) has been named Joint Secretary, Ministry of Power, Shailesh Bagauli, IAS (UD:2002) as Joint Secretary, Department of Revenue and Sukhgeet Kaur, IOFS (2000) as Member Secretary (JS level), National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).
The ACC also approved the appointment of Asheesh Joshi, IAS (UD:2006) as Joint Secretary, Department of School Education & Literacy, Manasi Sahay Thakur, IAS (HP:2009) as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Ashish Kumar Gupta, IOFS (2002) as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
Additionally, Manisha Chatterjee, IRTS (1999) has been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, Vrunda Manohar Desai, IRS (IT:2003) as Textile Commissioner, Mumbai, Naval Kishor, IOFS (2003) as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Bhaskar Choradia, IRAS (2000) as Joint Secretary & Financial Adviser, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Zaigham Ali Khan, IRAS (1999) as Member (Finance), Central Ground Water Board and Shiv Ratan, ITS (1996) as Joint Secretary, Department of Youth Affairs.
The appointments take effect from the date the officers assume charge of their respective posts, as per the ACC order.
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