Rajeev Kumar, IOFS Officer and MHA Joint Secretary, Deputation Extended by One Year to March 2027

The central government has extended the deputation of Rajeev Kumar, a 2000-batch officer of the Indian Ordnance Factories Service currently serving as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, by one year beyond March 5, 2026.

Central deputation extensions of this kind require approval from the Department of Personnel and Training in coordination with both the officer's parent service and the ministry seeking continuity, a process typically initiated when a ministry considers an officer's ongoing responsibilities better served by continuity than by transitioning to a new Joint Secretary at that point.

Joint Secretary-level postings at the Ministry of Home Affairs typically carry responsibility for a defined policy vertical within the ministry's broad internal security, Centre-State relations, and administrative coordination mandate, with Kumar's specific portfolio continuing under the same charge given the extension.

Kumar's background in the Indian Ordnance Factories Service, a cadre associated with defence production oversight, represents a departure from the Home Ministry's more typical IAS and IPS-dominated senior staffing pattern, reflecting the broader central staffing practice of drawing officers from organised Group A services based on administrative capability for specific coordination roles.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has continued to manage an active portfolio spanning internal security coordination, disaster management policy, and administrative oversight of central paramilitary forces, areas where Joint Secretary-level officers play a central coordination role between policy formulation and implementation.

The one-year extension gives the ministry continuity on Kumar's specific portfolio without the transition period a new Joint Secretary would typically require to build familiarity with ongoing initiatives within that policy area.

The extension order was processed through the Department of Personnel and Training in coordination with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ordnance Factory Board, which administers the IOFS cadre.