In the Prime Minister's Office, PM's newly-appointed secretary Bhaskar Khulbe is the highest-paid official, a recently-released Right to Information Act document has revealed.
Khulbe is a 1986-batch West Bengal cadre IAS officer and was serving as an additional secretary in the PMO. He was recently elevated to the rank of Secretary.
The information on salaries of all personnel of the PMO has been provided as part of an initiative by the prime minister who wants to encourage transparency, a government official said.
The RTI revealed that Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Nripendra Mishra, Additional Principal Secretary to Prime Minister P.K. Mishra and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval get lesser salaries as they have retired from service. They get a fixed salary of Rs 1, 62,500 each.
While both the Mishras retired as IAS officers, Doval retired as an IPS officer and was the director of Intelligence Bureau. Besides, they also get their pensions for their services to the country.
All the four above-mentioned are known as the eyes and ears of the Prime Minister in running the government. While both Mishras are known for handling the bureaucratic work, Doval is in-charge of security and diplomacy.
Khulbe is in-charge of appointments of all bureaucrats in the government and also uses his experience in the Department of Personnel and Training for deploying the right officers at the right place.
The information provided also revealed that there were 80 multi-tasking staff (earlier known as peons) and 25 drivers in the PMO.
