New Delhi: Senior IAS officer Anil Goswami, a seasoned hand on Jammu and Kashmir affairs, was on Friday appointed as the new Home Secretary and will have a two-year tenure from June end.
58-year-old Goswami, a 1978 batch IAS officer, is the first bureaucrat from Jammu and Kashmir cadre to be appointed to the top post.
A resident of Jammu, Goswami will be Officer on Special Duty with immediate effect till June 30 when he takes charge from incumbent R K Singh.
The name of Goswami, at present Secretary in Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, was cleared by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Along with Goswami, the others in the race for the coveted post were DoPT Secretary P K Mishra and Steel Secretary D R S Chowdhury.
Goswami, who will have a fixed tenure of two years till June 2015, had served both the Jammu and Kashmir as well as the Central governments in different capacities, including as Special Secretary in the Home Ministry.
He was Divisional Commissioner of Jammu and the first Chief Executive of the Vaishno Devi Shrine Board after it was taken over by the Government in early 1990s.
He also headed crucial departments of Home and Revenue in the state besides functioning as Principal Secretary to the then Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.
This is perhaps for the first time that name of the next Union Home Secretary was announced more than two months in advance of his actual taking over the charge. In the normal course, the successor is appointed a month in advance.
Goswami will have a packed schedule with the country gearing up for the general elections scheduled early next year.
