Who is Saket Kumar -- private secretary to Union Home Minister Amit Shah?

IAS officer Saket Kumar was on Friday appointed as private secretary to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, a government order said. Kumar's appointment has been approved till July 29, 2023, by the competent authority, the order issued by the Personnel Ministry said. He is a 2009-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Bihar cadre.  

Kumar was last year appointed as private secretary (PS) to Manoj Sinha, who was then the MoS (Independent charge) for Communications and MoS Railways.                

In another order, M Imkongla Jamir was appointed PS to Textiles and Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani till July 22, 2020, which happens to be the balance period of five years as private secretary to a minister. 

Jamir is a 2002-batch IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre and was in 2015 appointed as PS to Irani, who was then the Human Resource Development Minister.  Bureaucrat Ashish Kumar has been appointed as private secretary to Union Minister Jitendra Singh, for the balance period of four years, till August 27, 2021. 

He is a 2005-batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre.  Singh holds multiple portfolios as MoS (Independent charge) in the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Prime Minister's Office, Atomic Energy and Space.

Ashish Kumar worked as the minister's PS for a brief period of time last year.