NEW DELHI: In a debatable move, the government has “downgraded” the post of additional secretary at Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and shunted out the present official to another post, while bringing in another person who would hold a junior rank.

In an official communication issued 20 December 2018, the government has stated that Atul K Tiwari was being appointed as joint secretary at MIB and would shift from an equivalent post he held at Ministry of Textiles.

While, the government communication also listed reshuffle of several other civil servants, including upgradation of two officials, in the case of MIB it was specifically stated that the post of additional secretary at MIB was being downgraded and the present incumbent Jayashree Mukherjee would be posted elsewhere in the government.

In effect, this means that joint secretary Tiwari would function as an additional secretary at MIB discharging duties similar to that being done by Mukherjee. An additional secretary’s post in a ministry is the second top bureaucratic post in that organisation.

Tiwari joins MIB at a crucial time ahead of general elections sometimes in the first quarter of 2019. The ministry oversees the work of public broadcasters Doordarshan and All India Radio and government’s PR arm Press Information Bureau, apart from a host of other entities involved in the dissemination of public service messages and information about government programmes. MIB is also responsible for permissions given to TV channels, newspapers, magazines and similar media ventures and implementing regulations meant for the media sector.