The government has given additional charge of Department of Telecom (DoT) to DEITY Secretary Ram Sewak Sharma for a period of three months or until any new order is passed.
"The competent authority has approved the assignment of additional charge of the post of Secretary, DoT, to Shri Ram Sewak Sharma, IAS (JH:78), secretary Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY), for a period of three months with effect from 01-07-2014 or until further orders, whichever is earlier," an appointment notice said.
The post fell vacant following retirement of MF Farooqui on June 30. The Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer of 1978 batch, Farooqui had 15 month tenure at the helm of the DoT.
Under Farooqui's tenure, key regulations of new licencing regime of Unified Licences and change in spectrum usage charges were notified.
Various key guidelines like spectrum sharing and trading, full mobile number portability, wi-fi services for rural India, new penalty norms for telecom operators also received in-principal approval from higher authorities during the tenure of Farooqui.
Sharma, who joined as secretary DEITY on May 1, held the position of Director General and Mission Director of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) between August 2009 and March 2013. He played instrumental role in developing Aadhar Card concept with former UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani.