P.J. Thomas has replaced Siddharth Behura as the Secretary, Department of Telecommunication and Chairman, Telecom Commission from the 1st of October, according to a notice put up by the DoT (pdf). According to the Pioneer, Behura will be the Chairman of the C-Dot-Alcatel Research Centre JV in Chennai. Prior to this appointment, Thomas was the Secretary, Department of Parliamentary Affairs. He's an IAS officer from the 1973 batch (Kerala cadre). The Hindu had reported last month, quoting sources, that apart from Thomas, three other officials were in contention for the post: Ajit Kumar Seth, Secretary, Planning & Coordination; Atul Chaturvedi , Department of Fertilisers and Anil Kumar, Department of Women and Child Development. (Photo courtesy Kerala.nic.in)
