Arunish Chawla, IAS, previously serving as Officer on Special Duty, Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers has taken over the charge of Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, effective 1 November 2023.

Chawla has worked as Additional Chief Secretary, Planning and Development, with additional charge of Secretary, Bihar State Planning Board, Patna/ Project Director, Bihar Disaster Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Society, Patna; and Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Development and Housing and MD, Patna Metro Rail Corporation.

He has also worked as a Senior Economist in the Institute of Capacity Development of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington DC, USA for a period of 2 years in 2020.

S Aparna, a 1988-batch IAS officer of Gujrat cadre, was previously working as Secretary, DoP, since 1 Oct 2020. Aparna had then replaced Dr PD  Vaghela who superannuated on 30 September 2020.