Amit Khare gets extension as advisor to PM Modi

New Delhi: Former bureaucrat Amit Khare was on Monday given extension as advisor to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Personnel Ministry order said.

He was appointed to the post for two years in October 2021.

Khare, who has also served as I&B Secretary, is noted for his role in bringing to light the Fodder scam, in which Rs. 940 crores were embezzled in Bihar over many years, and successive chief ministers Jagannath Mishra and Lalu Yadav have been imprisoned.

Khare, a 1985-batch (retired) Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Jharkhand cadre, had superannuated on September 30, 2021. He last served as the higher education secretary.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the extension in Khare's tenure, on contract basis on the usual terms and conditions as are applicable in the case of re-employed officers of secretary-level in the government of India, beyond October 12, 2023 for a period "co-terminus with the term of Prime Minister", the order said.

In another order, the ACC has approved the extension in tenure of Rajesh S Gokhale as secretary, Department of Biotechnology, for a period of two years -- with effect from November 1, 2023.