NEW DELHI: The new Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government has started making bureaucratic appointments and information and broadcasting ministry is amongst the first batch of units to get a new crop of officials.

Navin Chawla has been named as the I&B ministry secretary. He will replace Pawan Chopra who would retire from government service on 31 May, having worked under two ministers ---- Sushma Swaraj and Ravi Shankar Prasad --- and had been at the helm when some of the controversial issues like conditional access system (CAS) had pitch forked the ministry into limelight.

Chawla, himself an author of sorts --- he has penned the biography of the late Mother Teresa --- is also said to be close the family of Sonia Gandhi, the chief of the Congress party. The Delhi chatterrati circles have it that
Chawla’s wife, Rupika, an art historian, is a personal friend of Sonia.

However, Chawla would have the benefit of the broadcast bill that had been tabled in Parliament by Reddy himself during his stint as an I&B minister in 1997. Moreover, some work in this regard has also been done by Chopra’s
team, including additional secretary (broadcasting), Vijay Singh.

The I&B ministry would have to look for an additional secretary (broadcasting) too as Singh is likely to move out of the ministry as he is slated to be empanelled for a secretary's post by July.