The Union government has recently appointed the former Election Commissioner Mr. Arun Goel as the next Ambassador of India to Croatia. Mr. Goel, a 1985-batch Punjab cadre retired IAS officer, is expected to assume charge shortly. Officer Goel will replace the 1997 batch IFS officer Mr. Raj Kumar Srivastava.
Officer Goel’s name made it to the headlines on numerous occasions. While serving as the Secretary of the Union Ministry of Heavy Industries, Officer Goel took voluntary retirement from the IAS on November 18th, 2022, and was subsequently appointed as an Election Commissioner on the next day. His appointment was challenged in the Supreme Court, but the plea was dismissed in August 2023.
Just as Goel’s appointment to the Election Commission made headlines, his departure also created quite the buzz as he resigned from the post of Election Commissioner on March 9th, just days before the announcement of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, even though his tenure was set to end in 2027.
In his long career in the bureaucracy, Officer Goel served as the Secretary of the Ministry of Heavy Industries from 2020 to 2022. Prior to that, he served as Secretary of the Ministry of Culture from 2018 to 2019. Over his career, he has held several key assignments, both at the Centre and in Punjab, while serving in the cadre.
