Mankad, an IAS officer of the 1964 batch belonging to the Madhya Pradesh cadre, will be in charge of the department of revenue. As per convention, the seniormost secretary in the finance ministry gets the finance secretary's post. On various occasions in the past, the finance secretary has been in charge of the revenue department.

The present revenue secretary Javed Chaudhury is being shifted to the health ministry. The health secreary's post fell vacant, with BP Singh moving to the World Bank.

Expenditure secretary EAS Sarma is being replaced by banking secretary CM Vasudev. Sarma will be in charge of the department of economic affairs. A formal notification on these changes is expected any moment.

Amongother top bureaucrats likely to be shifted include telecom secretary Anil Kumar, secretary (industrial development and public enterprise) S Narayan, food processing secretary SK Bhatnagar, and consumer affairs secretary K Srinivasan.

Srinivasan, a 1965 batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, is likely to be appointed as telecom secretary in place of Anil Kumar. As far as the information & broadcasting secretary is concerned, it could either be SK Bhatnagar or Anil Kumar.

Information & broadcasting minister Pramod Mahajan has already sounded out the Election Commission about the reshuffle.

Mankad was picked up by the Government because of his seniority. He is the topper of the 1964 IAS batch. Among the frontrunners for the race of the finance secretary was NK Singh, currently secretary in the Prime Minister's Office. Singh had a strong case, as he had served the finance ministry as expenditure secretary and revenue secretary.