New Delhi, May 31 (IANS): Expenditure Secretary in the Ministry of Finance Ashok Lavasa was on Tuesday appointed the new Finance Secretary. The post was lying vacant since Ratan Watal retired in April this year.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet designated Lavasa, a 1980-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, as the new finance secretary, an official statement said on Tuesday.

Lavasa was shifted from the environment ministry as the expenditure secretary in the finance ministry, after Watal retired.

According to convention, the seniormost IAS officer in the finance ministry is designated as the finance secretary.

Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das and Lavasa are from the same batch.

While Hasmukh Adhia is the Revenue Secretary, Anjuly Chib Duggal is the Financial Services Secretary and Neeraj Kumar Gupta is the Secretary of Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM).