Centre approves one-year extesion for AYUSH Secretary Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha

New Delhi: AYUSH Secretary Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha has been granted a one-year extension by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), allowing him to continue in the post until June 28, 2027. His current tenure was scheduled to end this month.

According to a notification issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Kotecha will continue to head the Ministry of AYUSH on existing terms and conditions until further orders.

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This marks the fifth extension for the senior bureaucrat, who joined the AYUSH Ministry in 2017 as a Special Secretary through the lateral entry route. Over the years, he has received multiple extensions, including two two-year tenures approved in 2020 and 2022, followed by two one-year extensions in 2024 and 2025.

Medical Dialogues had previously reported that the government has extended the tenure of Ayush Secretary Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha by one year, marking his fourth extension in the role. His tenure was due to end on June 28, 2025, and has been extended till June 28, 2026, by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on Tuesday.

Kotecha completed his BAMS in 1985 and an MD (Ayurveda) in 1991 from Gujarat Ayurved University. He later served as the former Vice-Chancellor of Gujarat Ayurveda University, Jamnagar. In 1998, he founded the Chakrapani Ayurveda Clinic and Research Centre in Jaipur.

Before entering the central government through lateral entry, he was associated with advisory roles in the Central Council of Indian Medicine under the then Department of AYUSH, which became an independent ministry in 2014.

Earlier, the Department of Indian System of Medicine and Homoeopathy (ISM&H), formed in 1995, was responsible for the development of these systems, reports PTI.

In recognition of his contributions to Ayurveda, Kotecha was awarded the Padma Shri in 2015. He has also received the Global Ayurveda Physician Award (2007) and the Ayurveda Ratna Award (2008).

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