By IANS,
New Delhi : Ajit Kumar Seth, a 1974-batch Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, will Tuesday take over as the new cabinet secretary.
The appointments committee of the cabinet had last month cleared Seth’s appointment. Seth will take over the post from K. M. Chandrasekhar who retires Monday.
Seth, who was serving as Secretary, Public Grievances and Coordination, was last month appointed as Officer on Special Duty in the cabinet secretariat. As cabinet secretary, Seth will head cabinet secretariat, which is the top agency for coordination among the different union ministries. The post has a fixed two-year term.
His predecessor however got two extensions of his term.
Born Nov 24, 1951, Seth did both his bachelor’s and master’s in chemistry from St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi, and M.Phil in Life Sciences from the Jawaharlal Nehru University. He also had a master’s degree in development finance from the Birmingham University. He is a product of St Columba’s School, New Delhi.
He has served key positions both in Uttar Pradesh and in the central government. For five years, he was joint secretary in the textiles ministry.
Earlier in the eighties, he served in the commerce ministry and was first secretary for over three years in the permanent mission of India to the United Nations at Geneva.