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     Raipur, January 21, 2010: Former Army officer and a career bureaucrat Shekhar Dutt would take oath as the next Governor of Chhattisgarh on January 23, officials said today.

     Dutt is arriving here in Raipur at 3.30 PM tomorrow and the Chief Secretary P Joy Oommen has organised a special function to welcome him at the Mana Airport, officials told ChhattisgarhTopNews.Com.

     The new Governor is a career bureaucrat and is an IAS officer of the 1969 batch of the Madhya Pradesh cadre.

    He had also served in the Army and for his role in the Western Sector during 1971, Dutt was awarded Sena Medal for gallantry, officials said.

     Dutt had worked as the Deputy National Security Advisor after functioning as the Defence Secretary of the country.

     He was also the Secretary, Defence Production in the Ministry of Defence. Dutt has also served as Joint Secretary in the Department of Defence Production. During this period he was Director in the Board of Defence Public Sector Undertakings such as Bharat Electronics, Bharat Dynamics, Bharat Earth Movers, Mazagaon Docks, Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers and Goa Shipyard.

     Earlier in the mid-80s he had served as Director (Navy) in the Ministry of Defence.

     In his long and distinguished career in the Indian Administrative service, Dutt held several key posts, which include Director General Sports Authority of India and Principal Secretary in the Department of Tribal and Scheduled Caste Welfare and Principal Secretary, Departments of School Education, Sports and Youth Welfare both in the Government of Madhya Pradesh.

     During his tenure in the Sports Authority of India, Dutt played a pivotal role in the successful conduct of the First Afro-Asian Games in November 2003.

     As the Principal Secretary, Tribal Welfare Dutt was instrumental in drawing up a number of schemes including special projects concerning area development, collection and marketing of minor forest produce and forest village development through joint forest management mechanism.

     Dutt also held the appointment of Secretary, Department of Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

     In his capacity as Principal Secretary in the Departments of School Education, Sports and Youth Welfare, Dutt was credited with the introduction of an innovative programme called Education Guarantee Scheme in which the community panchayats owned and ran the schools. The scheme helped in universalizing elementary education in Madhya Pradesh to a great extent.

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