Government yet to pick full-time DDRD head, RK Mathur asked to continue

NEW DELHI: The Department of Defence Research and Development (DDRD) will have to wait for a full-time head as the government asked Defence Secretary R K Mathur to continue holding additional charge till May 24.

The Appointments Committee of Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asked Mathur to continue holding the additional charge of the Secretary of DDRD till May 24, a post which fell vacant after sacking of Avinash Chander in January this year.

Mathur, a 1977-batch IAS officer of Manipur-Tripura cadre, was given additional charge of the Department of Defence Research and Development on January 30 this year for a period of there months.

Chander's extension was curtailed by the Government on January 14, fifteen months before his contract was to end.

Established in 1980, the Department of Defence Research and Development advises the Government on scientific aspects of military equipment and logistics and the formulation of research, design and development plans for equipment required by the three Services.