PK Sinha is the top boss

Finally, the mist has risen. Pradeep Kumar Sinha, a 1977-batch IAS officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre, is the new Cabinet Secretary for India. Nobody was clear about who would succeed Ajit Kumar Seth. There were three candidates from the 1977 batch and Sinha appeared to be the best choice. As per reports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi finally opted for the seniormost civil servant for the post. Sinha will take over the prestigious post on June 13. He would have retired on July 31 if he had not been appointed Cabinet Secretary, now his term will end on June 13, 2017. If he gets extensions like his predecessors, BK Chaturvedi, KM Chandrasekhar and Seth, he may be here for four years. Sinha, a postgraduate in Economics, MPhil in social sciences and a certificate holder of the French language, is the third Cabinet Secretary in continuation, like his predecessors and is also an alumnus of St. Stephen’s College. Before moving to the Power Ministry as Secretary in 2013, he also served as Secretary, Shipping, for a short while. It is to be noted that when the Congress was in power, he served in the Petroleum Ministry as a Joint Secretary, Additional Secretary and Special Secretary from 2004 to 2012. Being a Cabinet Secretary, he will soon shift to a designated house (32, Prithviraj Road) which has neighbours like LK Advani, Jindals, Punjs, Dalmias and Goenkas.