Kapil Dev Tripathi appointed Secretary to President Kovind

 Kapil Dev Tripathi was appointed as the Secretary to President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday, according to a Personnel Ministry order. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appointed Tripathi as the Secretary to Kovind on a contract basis, for a term co-terminus with the tenure of the president, it said. Tripathi, a 1980 batch (retired) IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, is at present the chairman of Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) that does top-level recruitment in central public sector enterprises. He will take over the charge from incumbent Sanjay Kothari who is tipped to be the chief of the probity watchdog Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), officials said. Kothari, a 1978 batch (retired) IAS officer of Haryana cadre, was appointed as the secretary to the president in July 2017.

Incidentally, he was also then working as the chairman of the PESB. His last posting in the service was as the secretary in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). Kothari was reportedly shortlisted as the Central Vigilance Commissioner in February this year by a high-powered panel headed by the prime minister. However, no official order has been issued in this regard. Tripathi, 62, has served in various positions in the central government and in his cadre. He retired in June 2018 as a secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

He has also worked as a secretary in the Central Vigilance Commission and as a joint secretary in the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.