Apurva Chandra is new labour secretary, first task to implement labour codes

New Delhi: Apurva Chandra is the new labour secretary of the union government, and his first big role will be to implement the three labour codes passed by the parliament, and play a key role in universalizing social security.

A 1988 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Maharashtra cadre, Chandra replaces Heeralal Samariya as the new labour secretary, following later’s retirement.

An alumnus of IIT Delhi, Chandra is a structural engineer by education before entering the civil services. Besides his role in Maharashtra as a senior bureaucrat, he has worked in central ministries like Defence, human resource development, and Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Before joining as the new labour secretary, Chandra was serving as Special Director General, Defence Acquisition, in the Ministry of Defence. At the labour ministry, his biggest task would be to



implement the labour codes by framing rules and taking all stakeholders along while implementing the labour reforms.

Chandra has spent over seven years in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in the union government and was instrumental in designing polices related to fuel supply chain ecosystem. Besides, he has played key roles associated with natural gas transportation infrastructure, setting up of city gas distribution companies, LNG import terminals, and allocation of gas to industries. He has also served in the board of several firms including GAIL India.

In Maharashtra, Chandra’s stint as Principal Secretary (Industries) helped bringing in the Electronic Policy, Retail policy, Single Window Policy to attract new investments, the labour ministry said Friday. Chandra was also closely working with the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial corridor (DMIC) initiative.