By IANS
New Delhi : Pulok Chatterji, a senior officer in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), was Thursday promoted to the post of secretary by the appointments committee of the cabinet.
An Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1974 batch, Chatterji’s responsibility in the PMO included deciding appointments of all civil servants above the rank of joint secretary.
A crucial voice in the PMO, Chatterji earlier had stints in the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and as Officer on Special Duty to Congress president Sonia Gandhi when she was the leader of the opposition in 1999.
Chatterji, who joined the PMO as joint secretary, is widely perceived to be the link between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Gandhi.
The prime minister’s media advisor Sanjaya Baru is the only other officer in the PMO of the rank of secretary.
In another decision, J.S. Sarma, a 1971-batch IAS officer belonging to the Andhra Pradesh cadre, was given the additional charge of the post of secretary, department of chemicals and petrochemicals, for a period of three months.