“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, Reports PTI.

Ram Sewak 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.

At DoT, Farooqui served for 15 months and under his tenure, key regulations of new licensing regime of Unified Licenses and change in spectrum usage charges were notified.

Ram Sewak Sharma takes the charge when, merger and acquisition rules, pave the way for spectrum trading and sharing and also Just few days back, global mobile operators' lobby group GSM Association had asked the new government for next round of 3G spectrum auctions in its upcoming telecom policy for the first 100 days. At present, the 3G spectrum in the 2100 band is allocated to a fraction for defence usage, while the rest is lying vacant. The GSM lobby body feels such partial allotment will help operators increase their 3G network capacity and offer superior mobile broadband coverage at affordable rates.