Chennai : Shailesh Nayak, secretary, ministry of earth sciences, has been given the additional charge of the secretary of department of space (DoS). He will hold the additional charge of secretary of DoS for a period of one month effective from Jan 1, 2015, or until the new incumbent is appointed or till further order.
The current secretary K. Radhakrishnan retired Wednesday.
Conventionally, the secretary of DoS is the chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
ISRO officials are surprised at Nayak being given the additional charge. They are expecting a senior in ISRO to be appointed as the secretary, DoS.
According to sources, two senior ISRO scientists, M.S.Y. Prasad and Kiran Kumar, were shortlisted by a panel for the post of secretary, DoS, and their names were sent to the Prime Minister’s Office for a decision.
Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi was busy with elections to the Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir assambles, it was said that he might not have been able to take a final decision.