The Central government has implemented a bureaucratic reshuffle by transferring Sudhansh Pant, Secretary of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways. As a replacement, TK Ramachandran, currently serving as Chairman of the VO Chidambaranar Port Authority, has been appointed as the new Secretary in the Ministry.
TK Ramachandran, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from the Tamil Nadu cadre, has been on Central deputation since December 28, 2018. During his tenure as Chairman of the VO Chidambaranar Port Authority, he was promoted to the rank of Additional Secretary and subsequently Secretary on October 19, 2022. However, it remains unclear whether Ramachandran will continue in the Centre beyond December this year, as his five-year deputation will conclude then. His superannuation is scheduled for September 7, 2025.
Meanwhile, Sudhansh Pant, who had a brief tenure of slightly over four months as Secretary of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways, has been designated as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Department of Health and Family Welfare. Effective July 31, he will assume the role of Secretary in the Department of Health and Family Welfare within the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Speculation within bureaucratic and political circles suggests that Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Chemicals and Fertilisers, played a role in Pant’s transfer to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
