Even as the Centre filled two top-level positions in the banking and pension regulator on Wednesday, the suspense over filling several high-level vacancies in the government remains. Expectations are that most of these posts will be filled by the end of the month.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has appointed Poonam Gupta as Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India for a period of three years. Gupta has been serving as the Director General of think tank National Council of Applied Economic Research. The RBI has four Deputy Governors and one of the posts had been vacant after former RBI DG Michael Patra retired in mid-January.
The appointment is crucial and comes ahead of the meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the RBI from April 7 to 9 which will take stock of the domestic economy as well as international developments as it takes a call on a possible rate cut. Patra was responsible and oversaw critical departments including Monetary Policy, Financial Markets Operations, and Economic and Policy Research in the RBI.
Meanwhile, the ACC has also appointed Sivasubramanian Ramann as Chairperson, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority for a five year period or until he attains the age of 65. Ramann is currently posted as Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General and Chief Technology Officer at the CAG.
Several other vacancies however continue. In the finance ministry, a full time revenue secretary is still awaited while the posts of four members in the Central Board of Direct Taxes is also in the process of being filled up.
At present, finance and economic affairs secretary Ajay Seth has been given additional charge of the department of revenue as well. The post had fallen vacant after the previous revenue secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey was appointed as chairman of SEBI on February 27. Prior to that, Sanjay Malhotra held the post of revenue secretary before his appointment as Governor, Reserve Bank of India.
According to sources, the government is likely to fill up the four posts of CBDT members in the coming fortnight or so as several names have been shortlisted and will be sent for approval soon.
The post of labour secretary is also up for grabs with previous labour secretary Sumita Dawra superannuating at the end of March 2025.At present, Sujata Chaturvedi, secretary, department of sports has been given additional charge as labour secretary.
Meanwhile, the top role at audit watchdog National Financial Reporting Authority has now also fallen vacant after the previous NFRA Chairman Ajay Bhushan Pandey’s term came to an end last month. The Centre is already in the process of selecting the next Chairperson of NFRA as well as three full time members and had sought applications for all these roles.
The Centre is also in the process of appointing the next Chairperson of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) and April 6 is the deadline for applications. Former IRDAI Chairman Debasish Panda’s term came to an end last month.
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