New Delhi: The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has given the additional charge of Secretary of Department of Defence Production to Dr Ajay Kumar (IAS) on Tuesday. Kumar has been given additional charge of Secretary of Department of Defence Production upon the superannuation of Subash Chandra (lAS) on December 31. He is currently serving as Secretary of Department of Defence since August 23. Dr Kumar has held the position of Secretary, Department of Defence Production from December 2017 to January 2019.
Dr Ajay Kumar is a 1985 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Kerala cadre. He has a bachelor of technology (B Tech) in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT-Kanpur) and has a Master of Science (M Sc) in development economics from the University of Minnesota. Kumar also has a Doctor of Philosophy degree in business administration from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.
Dr Ajay Kumar was chosen in the list of "Most Effective Bureaucrats 2019," in a survey conducted by PSU Watch, Fame India & Asia Post. He was facilitated as distinguished alumni by Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur for his professional excellence and nation-building efforts.
Kumar has served in various posts in both the state government of Kerala and central government, such as Principal Secretary (Information Technology), Managing Director of the Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation, Secretary (Industries), Managing Director of the Kerala State Co-operative Agricultural and Rural Development Bank, General Manager in the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation and as the District Magistrate and Collector of the Palakkad district in the Kerala government. He also served as the Defence Production Secretary, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Joint Secretary in the Department of Information Technology of the now-erstwhile Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, director in the Department of Biotechnology of the Ministry of Science and Technology and as a deputy secretary in the Department of Home of the Ministry of Home Affairs in the Indian government.