Sanjay Kothari appointed Secretary to new President

Sanjay Kothari, Chairman of Public Enterprises Selection Board, has been appointed as Secretary to President-elect Ram Nath Kovind.

Senior journalist Ashok Malik has been named as Press Secretary to Kovind, said an order issued today by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

Senior Gujarat-cadre forest service officer Bharat Lal will be Joint Secretary to Kovind, it said.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has cleared these appointments for an initial period of two years, it said.

Kothari, a 1978-batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre, retired in June last year as DoPT secretary.

He was in November 2016 appointed as the chief of the government's head-hunter the PESB.

Malik is at present Distinguished Fellow, Observer Research Foundation--a policy think tank.

Lal, a 1988-batch officer of Indian Forest Service, is at present Resident Commissioner of Gujarat government in Delhi.