The appointments committee of the cabinet has approved Ashok Lavasa as the Finance Secretary, an order issued by Department of Personnel and Training said.

The senior IAS officer was previously serving as the Expenditure Secretary and belongs to the 1980 batch of IAS officers of the Haryana cadre. Mr. Lavasa takes on the position from Ratan Watal, who retired in April this year but was given a two-month extension to ensure the smooth passage of the Union Budget 2016-17.

As per the rules, the senior most of the five Secretaries with the Finance Ministry is designated as the Finance Secretary. The other secretaries include Shaktikanta Das (Economic Affairs), Hasmukh Adhia (Revenue), Anjuly Chhib Duggal (Financial Services), Neeraj kumar Gupta (Disinvestment).

Mr. Lavasa’s career includes stints as the Environment Secretary and Aviation Secretary. He is also the co-author of the book “An Uncivil Servant”.