Till now, B D Pande had been the longest serving cabinet secretary from November 2, 1972, to March 31, 1977.
Gauba, a former Union home secretary, was in 2019 appointed to the top bureaucratic post for two years. He was given one-year extensions in 2021 and then in August last year.
The relaxation of All India Services (Death-cum-Retirement Benefits or DCRB) Rules, 1958, and and Rule 56 (d) of the Fundamental Rules, allow the central government to give extension in service to the cabinet secretary, in the public interest “provided that the total term of the cabinet secretary, who is granted such extensions of service, shall not exceed four years”.
Born in Punjab, Gauba had graduated in Physics from the Patna University. He had served in Jharkhand as the chief secretary for 15 months before returning to serve in the central government in 2016 as housing and urban affairs secretary.