NEW DELHI: Senior Indian Administrative Officer Supriya Sahu has been given a three-month extension as Joint Secretary in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry after her term ends later this month.

Her extension has been approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. Ministry sources informed that the necessary proposal for extension beyond 22 July had been moved prior to the election of the new government. The normal term of an IAS officer is five years, these sources said.

A 1991 Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer, Sahu is presently Joint Secretary (Broadcasting) in the Ministry.

Prior to this, she has been Director – Broadcasting in MIB. As Director, she was directly involved with the drawing up of the Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill and the Content Code for TV channels.

As Joint Secretary, she has been involved with digitisation of cable television as well as the dynamic growth of both FM and Community Radio.

Sahu has earlier been the District Collector of Nilgiris district, where she was the force behind the ‘Say no to plastics’ campaign to protect the eco-system of the hill station Ooty. Supriya Sahu has been hailed as a diminutive package of dynamite, and has earned formidable appreciation in implementing the Operations Blue Mountain in the Nilgiris to cleanse the environment of the plastic menace during her tenure as the District Collector of the district through strategic and meticulous planning.

Before that she was Additional Collector of Vellore district and Project Director, Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society (TANSACS).