Sanjay Kothari appointed as Secretary to President Ram Nath Kovind

Chairman of Public Enterprises Selection Board Sanjay Kothari was on 22 July 2017 appointed as the Secretary to 14th President-elect Ram Nath Kovind. Kothari, a 1978-batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre, retired in June 2016 as DoPT secretary.

National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Kovind was on 20 July 2017 elected as the President of India, defeating his United Progressive Alliance (UPA) rival Meira Kumar in a straight fight.

Appointment of other secretaries to President Ram Nath Kovind
• Senior journalist Ashok Malik was named as Press Secretary to Kovind. Malik is at present Distinguished Fellow of the Observer Research Foundation.

• Senior Gujarat-cadre forest service officer Bharat Lal will be the Joint Secretary to Kovind. Lal, a 1988-batch Indian Forest Service officer, is at present Resident Commissioner of Gujarat government in Delhi.

All these appointments were approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for an initial period of two years.