Correct Answer : Deepak Agarwal
Days after it assigned additional charge of the Managing Director, National Agriculture Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED), to an official of the Ministry of Cooperation, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) Friday (25th Oct 2024) appointed Deepak Agarwal, a 2000-batch Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS officer, as the regular MD of NAFED for a period of five years. An order to this effect was issued by the ACC.
The order came days after the ACC entrusted charge of the post to an official of the Ministry of Cooperation, a week after Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s decision to assign the additional charge of MD, NAFED, to an Agriculture Ministry official.
On 21 October 2024, The Indian Express reported— “NAFED post: Agriculture gives it to own official, week later it goes to Cooperation.”
The ACC, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has Amit Shah, Union Minister of Home Affairs and Cooperation, as its only other ministerial member. It is responsible for appointing senior officials to key positions in the Central government, public sector undertakings and autonomous bodies.
It is learnt that the Agriculture Ministry, in an order on September 23, assigned additional charge of MD, NAFED, to Muktanand Agrawal, a Joint Secretary in the ministry. The order was issued a day after Ritesh Chauhan demitted office as MD. The order was issued “with approval of the Competent Authority” — in this case the Agriculture Minister, sources said.
But on September 30, the ACC appointed Pankaj Kumar Bansal, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation, as the MD, NAFED, initially for “a period of three months or till the appointment of a regular incumbent to the post.”.
Source : Indian Express
