Govt names Vir Vikram Yadav as new DGCA chief in major bureaucratic reshuffle

The government on Tuesday appointed senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Vir Vikram Yadav as the new chief of the country's aviation regulator, amid recent flight disruptions linked to the implementation of new pilot rest norms.

Yadav replaces Faiz Ahmed Kidwai as director general of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), who has been transferred to the Department of Personnel and Training under the Prime Minister’s Office. Both officers will assume the rank of additional secretary.

These appointments, approved by the appointments committee of the cabinet (ACC), are part of a broader bureaucratic reshuffle involving several ministries and departments. The Centre moved Chanchal Kumar, secretary at the ministry of development of North Eastern region (MDoNER), to the ministry of information and broadcasting. Sanjay Jaju will take over as the new secretary at the MDoNER.

Sanjay Lohiya, additional secretary in the ministry of mines, has been named special secretary in the department of financial services (DFS), ministry of finance. He will take over after Nagaraju Maddirala retires on 31 May 2026.

In other key appointments at the secretary level, Rohit Kansal, additional secretary in the ministry of textiles, has been appointed secretary, department of rural development, in place of Shailesh Kumar Singh.

Bharat Harbanslal Khera has been named officer on special duty in the ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in the rank and pay of secretary and will take charge upon the superannuation of Subhas Chandra Lal Das on 30 April.

Nivedita Shukla Verma, secretary, department of chemicals and petro-chemicals has been appointed as secretary, department of administrative reforms and public grievances with additional charge of secretary, department of pensions and pensioners welfare.

Bhuvnesh Kumar, chief executive of Unique Identification Authority of India, has been appointed as secretary, ministry of tourism in place of Srivatsa Krishna, who has been to the ministry of minority affairs.

Abhishek Singh, director general of the National Informatics Centre, has been appointed as director general of the National Testing Agency in the rank and pay of secretary by upgrading the post.

Narendra Bhooshan has been appointed as secretary, department of land resources, while Chandra Sekhar Kumar, has been appointed as chief executive of the National Rainfed Area Authority in the rank and pay of secretary.

The ACC has also approved in-situ upgradation of Sanjay Rastogi, director general, the National Archives of India and Sajjan Singh Yadav, additional secretary in the department of expenditure, to the level of special secretary in the rank and pay of secretary to the Government of India as a personal measure by upgrading the posts.

Several officers have been moved to key positions. Puneet Kansal has been appointed as additional secretary in the ministry of civil aviation. Mona K. Khandar, has been appointed as additional secretary in the department of social justice and empowerment.

Other notable appointments include Gyanendra D. Tripathi as additional secretary in the department of agricultural research and education, Vishal Gagan as secretary of the Central Information Commission in the rank of additional secretary, N. Gulzar, as member secretary of the National Capital Region Planning Board, Diwakar Nath Misra, as additional secretary in ministry of power, and Debasish Prusty, as additional secretary in department of financial services.

Further, a number of joint secretaries have been elevated to additional secretary level including Arti Kanwar to ministry of textiles, Darpan Jain and Lokhande Prashant Sitaram in their respective departments, Ankita Mishra Bundela to the department of agriculture and farmers welfare, Vijay Nehra and Siddharth Jain in health and cooperation ministries, respectively, and Neetu Kumari Prasad to the department of revenue.

Officers from other services, such as Anuj Sharma (IDES), Meenaxi Rawat (IES), Ansuman Pattanaik (IRS), and several others, have also been appointed as additional secretaries in different ministries.

The ACC has additionally approved in-situ upgradation of Sarita Chauhan Chand and Pankaj Yadav to the level of additional secretary as a measure personal to them.