IRTS Officer Sajeesh Kumar N. Named Joint Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment

Sajeesh Kumar N., an Indian Railway Traffic Service officer presently on deputation to the Ministry of Coal as Coal Controller, has been appointed Joint Secretary in the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, for an overall tenure up to December 21, 2028.

The Department of Social Justice and Empowerment runs central welfare schemes for Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Classes, senior citizens and persons with disabilities, among other groups. A Joint Secretary in the department typically oversees one or more of these scheme verticals, coordinating implementation with states and allied ministries.

Kumar's move from Coal Controller, a regulatory post overseeing coal grading and pricing matters under the Ministry of Coal, to a welfare-focused department is a shift between two administratively distinct central deputation charges, both outside his parent railway traffic cadre.

He was serving as Coal Controller under the Ministry of Coal before this appointment, a post responsible for the classification and grading framework that governs coal pricing in India.

This is his second central deputation posting in the current tenure cycle, moving from a regulatory economic role to a welfare-administration one, a pattern seen among IRTS officers rotated across ministries during extended central postings.

The Department of Social Justice and Empowerment has been expanding several of its scholarship and welfare scheme rollouts in recent years, and an incoming Joint Secretary typically inherits oversight of implementation targets tied to these programmes.

The order fixes Kumar's overall central deputation tenure at up to December 21, 2028, unless varied by further orders.