In a significant administrative development, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on February 28, 2025, approved the empanelment of 28 senior IAS officers from various batches and state cadres for appointment as Additional Secretary or Additional Secretary-equivalent in the Government of India.
The empanelment clears the officers for consideration for key policy-making and administrative roles at the Centre.
Officers Empanelled for Additional Secretary Posts
The following IAS officers have been empanelled for appointment as Additional Secretary/Additional Secretary-equivalent:
• Dheeraj Sahu (IAS:1996:UP)
• Debasish Prusty (IAS:2000:RJ)
• Lokhande Prashant Sitaram (IAS:2001:AGMUT)
• Mandeep K Bhandari (IAS:2001:AGMUT)
• Sridhar Chiruvolu (IAS:2001:BH)
• Arti Kanwar (IAS:2001:GJ)
• Vijay Nehra (IAS:2001:GJ)
• R Selvam (IAS:2001:HP)
• Pankaj Yadav (IAS:2001:HY)
• Darpan Jain (IAS:2001:KN)
• Nipun Vinayak (IAS:2001:MH)
• Prajakta L Verma (IAS:2001:MH)
• Shrikar Keshav Pardeshi (IAS:2001:MH)
• Vijayalakshmi Prasanna Bidari (IAS:2001:MH)
• Nidhi Mani Tripathi (IAS:2001:MN)
• Dodda Venkata Swamy (IAS:2001:OR)
• Priyank Bharti (IAS:2001:PB)
• Neetu Kumari Prasad (IAS:2001:TG)
Officers Empanelled for Additional Secretary-Equivalent Posts
The following officers have been empanelled for Additional Secretary-equivalent positions:
• Anoop Kumar Agrawal (IAS:1993:WB)
• Sarita Chauhan Chand (IAS:1999:AGMUT)
• Bhaskar Jyoti Sharma (IAS:1999:OR)
• Shubha Sarma (IAS:1999:OR)
• Kumar Rahul (IAS:2000:PB)
• Sorabh Babu (IAS:2000:UP)
• Ankita Mishra Bundela (IAS:2001:AGMUT)
• Jujjavarapu Balaji (IAS:2001:AM)
• Siddharth Jain (IAS:2001:AP)
• Santhanagopalan R (IAS:2001:OR)
Follows Recent Empanelment of 41 IAS Officers at Secretary Level
The latest empanelment comes shortly after the ACC cleared 41 senior IAS officers from the 1990–1995 batches for appointment as Secretary or Secretary-equivalent in the Government of India. That large-scale empanelment significantly strengthened the pool of officers eligible for the highest decision-making roles at the Centre.
Together, the two back-to-back empanelments reflect a broader exercise to reinforce senior administrative leadership across ministries and departments.
Strengthening Senior Leadership at the Centre
Empanelment by the ACC is a key step in the appointment process for senior positions in the Central Government. Officers cleared at the Additional Secretary level are eligible to be appointed to crucial ministries and departments, where they play a pivotal role in policy formulation, inter-ministerial coordination, and implementation oversight.
The latest empanelment reflects a broad representation of cadres and batches, particularly officers from the late 1990s and early 2000s, strengthening the senior leadership pool available to the Government of India.
Read also: 41 Senior IAS Officers Cleared for Secretary-Level Posts; 1990–95 Batches Feature Prominently
