Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet, has re-appointed Dr Pramod Kumar Mishra as the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. The retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Dr P.K. Mishra, has been appointed for his second consecutive term.
The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet is the highest appointing body of the Union Cabinet. It approves top-level appointments in the Union Government. At present, it consists of the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah.
According to the Department of Personnel and Training, the government of India, Dr P.K. Mishra’s appointment comes into effect on 10 June 2024. He will continue in office until the term of the incumbent Prime Minister or until further order.
The Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister is a political post in India. He enjoys office at the pleasure of the Prime Minister, which means he can be dismissed by the Prime Minister at any time. If the Prime Minister resigns, then the Principal Secretary also has to resign.
Dr P.K. Mishra has been given the rank of cabinet minister in the Modi government.
Dr Parmod Kumar Mishra is a 1971 batch IAS(retd.) officer of the Odisha cadre who retired in 2008. He has a close relationship with PM Modi and served as principal secretary to the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
He was appointed as the Principal Secretary to the prime minister for the first time in 2019 and was re-appointed for the second time in 2024.
The post of Cabinet Secretary is the highest civil servant post in the Indian government. India has a parliamentary form of government, and the cabinet is considered to be the most important and powerful decision-making body.
However, over time, the prime minister has become increasingly powerful in the union government, and so has the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
The PMO comes under the Prime Minister, and it helps the Prime Minister perform various administrative duties.
The PMO is an extra-constitutional body that was set up as the Prime Minister’s Secretariat after independence in 1947.
It was renamed the Prime Minister’s Office in 1977.
The Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister heads the PMO.
The first Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister was P.N.Haksar, who was appointed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1973.
Dr PK Mishra is the 13th Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister.
Following is the list of the persons who have been appointed as the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, their tenure and the Prime Minister under which they worked
Serial Number |
Name |
Tenure |
Prime Minister |
1 |
P. N. Haksar |
06.12.1971 to 28.02.1973 |
Indira Gandhi |
2 |
V. Shankar |
04.04.1977 to 31.07.1979 |
Morarji Desai |
3 |
Dr. P.C. Alexander |
02.05.1981 to 18.01.1985 |
Indira Gandhi |
4 |
B.G. Deshmukh |
27.03.1989 to 11.12.1990 |
V.P.Singh |
5 |
S.K. Mishra |
11.12.1990 to 24.06.1991 |
Chandra Shekhar |
6 |
A.N. Verma |
25.06.1991 to 15.05.1996 |
P.V.Narasimha Rao |
7 |
T.R. Satischandran |
12.06.1996 to 30.03.1997 |
H.D.Deve Gowda |
8 |
N.N. Vohra |
01.07.1997 to 19.03.1998 |
Inder Kumar Gujral |
9 |
Brajesh Misra |
19.03.1998 to 22.05.2004 |
Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
10 |
T. K.A Nair |
28.05.2004 to 03.10.2011 |
Dr. Man Mohan Singh |
11 |
Pulok Chatterjee |
03.10.2011 to 26.05.2014 |
Dr. Man Mohan Singh |
12 |
Nripendra Misra |
28.05.2014 to 11.09.2019 |
Narendra Modi |
13. |
P.K. Mishra |
11.09.2019 to till date |
Narendra Modi |