Senior IAS officer Asha Ram Sihag appointed DG Acquisition in Defence Ministry

NEW DELHI: Senior IAS officer Asha Ram Sihag has been appointed as Director General (Acquisition) in the Defence Ministry.

Sihag, a 1983-batch IAS officer of Himachal Pradesh cadre, is currently serving as Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor in the Ministry of External Affairs.

He will be the key officer responsible for overseeing Defence Ministry's multi-crore acquisition process.

Sihag will be taking over at a time when the ministry is set to take its final decision on cancellation of the VVIP chopper deal and a number of important acquisitions such as the 126 medium multirole combat aircraft.

He has been appointed in the rank and pay of Additional Secretary in the vacancy of Satish B Agnihotri, a 1980-batch IAS officer of Odisha cadre, a press release issued today by the Ministry of Personnel said.

Agnihotri has been elevated to the rank of Secretary and sent to the New and Renewable Energy Ministry, Defence Ministry officials said here.

A PhD in economics, Sihag has held various important assignments in his central deputation.

As DG (Acquisition), he will be in charge of spending the capital acquisition allocation of over Rs 70,000 crore for modernisation of the armed forces. He will also be involved in evolving the Defence Procurement Procedure of the government to bring in more transparency in procurements.

Another IAS officer, G Gurucharan, has been appointed as Additional Secretary in the Department of Consumer Affairs.

Gurucharan, a 1982-batch IAS officer, is presently serving in his cadre -- Karnataka.

He was appointed in the vacancy of Afzal Amanullah, a 1979-batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, it said.

Jatinder Bir Singh, a 1983-batch IAS officer of Assam Meghalaya cadre, has been appointed as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources.

Singh, who is presently serving in Assam, has been appointed in the vacancy of G Mohan Kumar, a 1979-batch IAS officer of Odisha cadre, the release stated.