New Delhi: The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the empanelment of 62 officers from multiple All India and Central Services for appointment at the Joint Secretary or Joint Secretary Equivalent level in the Government of India.
The empanelment, cleared on April 8, 2026, includes officers from the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Forest Service, railways, defence, telecommunications, taxation and other organised Group A services.
With this clearance, these officers become eligible for appointment to senior policy-making positions in central ministries, departments and equivalent institutions under the Government of India.
The list includes officers from different batches, cadres and services, reflecting a broad-based administrative selection for future central leadership roles.
IAS Officers Form Major Segment of the Empanelment List
Among the empanelled officers, a significant number belong to the Indian Administrative Service, including officers from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Odisha cadres.
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The IAS officers empanelled are:
- Kajal (2008 batch, UP cadre)
- Saumya Agarwal (2008 batch, UP cadre)
- S Tejaswi Naik (2009 batch, MP cadre)
- Sumeet Kumar Jarangal (2009 batch, Punjab cadre)
- A Muthu Kumar (2009 batch, Jharkhand cadre)
- Gauri Parasher Joshi (2009 batch, Punjab cadre)
- N Venkatesh (2009 batch, Tamil Nadu cadre)
- Priyanka Das (2009 batch, MP cadre)
- Rathod Sandeep Rewaji (2009 batch, Tripura cadre)
- Rohan Chand Thakur (2009 batch, Himachal Pradesh cadre)
- Hrishikesh B Yashod (2006 batch, UP cadre)
- V Shanmugam (2007 batch, Uttarakhand cadre)
- Gaurav Goyal (2006 batch, Rajasthan cadre)
- Rajesh Prabhakar Patil (2005 batch, Odisha cadre)
The inclusion of multiple UP cadre officers makes Uttar Pradesh one of the prominently represented cadres in this round of empanelment.
CSS Officers Also Included for Joint Secretary Equivalent Positions
Three officers from the Central Secretariat Service have also been empanelled:
- D K Choudhary (SSGSL 2019)
- Gopal Krishna (SSGSL 2018)
- G Muthuraja (SSGSL 2018)
Their empanelment strengthens representation from the central secretariat stream in higher-level policy positions.
Indian Forest Service Officers Selected for Central Roles
Six officers from the Indian Forest Service have been empanelled:
- S Senthil Kumar (1998 batch, AGMUT cadre)
- G Rajesh (2001 batch, Odisha cadre)
- S Kulandivel (2002 batch, West Bengal cadre)
- H Raja Mohan (2001 batch, UP cadre)
- Deepa D Nair (2001 batch, Tripura cadre)
- Prachi Gangwar (2003 batch, Karnataka cadre)
These officers may now be considered for key environment, forestry and inter-ministerial assignments.
Defence and Revenue Services Receive Representation
From the Indian Defence Estates Service:
- G Vijay Bhaskar (1999 batch)
- S V R Chandra Sekhar (2000 batch)
From the Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax):
- Srujani Mohanty (1999 batch)
From Indian Defence Accounts Service:
- V Yogitha (2002 batch)
- Nabarun Dhar (2004 batch)
These empanelments expand the available pool for defence finance, estate management and revenue administration roles at the Centre.
Railways Contribute Large Number of Officers
A substantial number of empanelled officers belong to railway services.
Indian Railway Service of Engineers (Civil)
- Harsimran Singh (2001)
- Amit Kumar (2003)
- Pervesh Kumar (2003)
Indian Railway Personnel Service
- Yatri Dave Vitekar (2001)
Indian Railway Stores Service
- Santosh Kumar Mishra (2004)
- Harpreet Singh Pruthi (1999)
- Amit Singh (2001)
- Kanwalpreet (2001)
Indian Railway Accounts Service
- S Salim Javed (2003)
Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers
- Dinesh Kumar Vashishtha (2000)
- Satya Narayan Meena (2001)
Indian Railway Traffic Service
- Praveen Pandey (1996)
- Dharmendra Kumar (1998)
- Aashima Mehrotra (1999)
- Jyoti Prakash Mishra (1999)
- R Gopalakrishnan (1999)
- Shishir Somvanshi (2001)
- Amit Kumar Jain (2000)
- Swadesh Kumar Singh (2000)
- Dibbanjan Roy (2002)
- R Sudharshan (2002)
Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers
- Rajneesh Kumar Tomar (1998)
- Jawahar Lal (1999)
- Sunil Kumar Sharma (1999)
- Amit Saurastri (2001)
This reflects strong railway sector representation in central empanelment.
Telecommunications and Engineering Services Included
From the Indian Telecommunications Service:
- M Srinivasulu Reddy (1993)
- Mukesh Lal (1996)
- Prachish Khanna (1996)
- Rakesh S Desai (1996)
- Vijay Prakash (1996)
- Vivek Khare (1996)
From Indian Engineering Services:
- Sudhir Shyam (1999)
- Sonia Pant (2001)
- Archana Mayaram (2004)
What Joint Secretary Empanelment Means
Empanelment at Joint Secretary level does not automatically mean immediate posting, but it qualifies officers for appointment to senior policymaking positions in ministries and departments under the Government of India.
Such empanelment is a critical milestone in a civil servant’s career and often determines eligibility for central leadership assignments.
The empanelment process involves scrutiny of service records, performance history, vigilance status and administrative suitability.
Broad Administrative Significance
The latest empanelment reflects the Centre’s effort to build a wider pool of experienced officers from multiple services for future governance roles.
By including officers from administrative, forest, railway, defence, telecom and revenue services, the government ensures inter-sectoral expertise at senior decision-making levels.
