By IANS
New Delhi : Defence Secretary Shekhar Dutt was Friday appointed as the second Deputy National Security Advisor. He will hold this post in the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), the country's strategic policy making body, for two years.
"Dutt will be in the rank and pay of secretary to the government and will hold the post for a period of two years in the first instance or until further orders, whichever is earlier," said an official statement.
The appointments committee of the cabinet had Thursday named Vijay Singh, secretary for road transport and highway, as the successor to Dutt who will retire on July 31.
Before his stint as defence secretary, Dutt was secretary defence production.
An IAS officer of the 1969 batch of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, Dutt also served in the army and was awarded a Sena Medal for gallantry for his role in the western sector during the 1971 war.
Dutt has held several key posts earlier, including Director General Sports Authority of India and principal secretary in the Department of Tribal and Scheduled Caste Welfare, and principal secretary, Departments of School Education, Sports & Youth Welfare, both in Madhya Pradesh.
In April this year, Leela Ponappa, the former ambassador to The Netherlands and Thailand, was appointed Deputy National Security Adviser for a two-year term.
The post had been vacant since Vijay Nambiar left to join the United Nations.
Ponappa also functions as secretary, National Security Council Secretariat.