Meet the IAS-officer who will be Amit Shah's private secretary

Kumar is a 2009-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Bihar cadre. His appointment was approved until July 2023.

Notably, Kumar has experience of working in ministries. In 2018, he was appointed as private secretary to Manoj Sinha, who was MoS (Independent charge) for Communications and MoS Railways at the time.

Obviously, being Shah's closest personnel is a promotion for Kumar.

Separately, the government appointed M Imkongla Jamir as personal secretary to Textile and WCD Minister Smriti Irani.

Jamir, who is a 2002-batch IAS officer of Karnataka cadre, was appointed as PS to Irani in 2015 when she was HRD minister.

Since an IAS officer is appointed as PS to a minister for only five years, Jamir's tenure will end on July 22, 2020.

On a related note, Shah's security has been beefed up by the Delhi police, which reports to the Union Home Minister.

Some 50 security officials including SWAT teams have been deployed outside Shah's 11 Akbar Road residence.

Shah is also expected to move in into the residence of late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. A senior official said security arrangements have been made accordingly.

The official said Shah might shift to his new residence within two weeks. He already enjoys Z+ security, the highest level of security accorded to anyone. Apart from this, paramilitary forces and nearly 100 policemen guard him round the clock.

The officer said Shah will soon decide if Black Cat commandos should be added to his security cover.