nJunking conventional practice, the Modi Government has decided that all appointments of Private Secretaries (PS) to the Ministers will now be done by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). This means, the existing practice of Ministers selecting their own PS will be completely done away with.
Not just that, sources said, there will also be a change in the entire system and non-IAS officers could also be appointed as PS to the Ministers. Normally, the Ministers prefer appointing IAS officers as their PS, and this leads to large scale lobbying among the bureaucracy.
Now there will be mix of services like IPS, IRS, Railway officers, CSS officials of the director level who will get a chance to subordinate the Minister.
The decision will be applied to the new change of guards in the recently-effected reshuffle in the Council of Ministers.