The Centre on Tuesday appointed Vir Vikram Yadav as the new chief of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), replacing Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, in a wider bureaucratic reshuffle spanning multiple ministries and departments.A 1996-batch IAS officer of the Odisha cadre, Yadav moves from his current position as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to head the country’s aviation regulator at a time when the sector is witnessing rapid expansion, rising passenger traffic and increasing regulatory scrutiny.Kidwai, also a 1996-batch IAS officer from the Madhya Pradesh cadre, has been appointed Additional Secretary in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). He had taken charge of the DGCA in January last year and oversaw key regulatory interventions amid safety audits and operational challenges across airlines.The reshuffle, notified by the Personnel Ministry, involves appointments of 25 senior civil servants at the level of Additional Secretary across departments, signalling a broader administrative recalibration at the Centre.Among other key changes, Puneet Kansal has been appointed Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation, a move seen as strengthening the administrative leadership in a sector grappling with cost pressures and fleet expansion.Vishal Gagan will take over as Secretary in the Central Information Commission, while Gyanendra D Tripathi, a 1998-batch IAS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, has been appointed Additional Secretary in the Department of Agricultural Research and Education and Secretary of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.Yadav’s appointment to the DGCA comes at a crucial juncture, with the regulator expected to tighten oversight on airline operations, safety compliance and passenger service standards, even as the aviation market continues to scale up aggressively.