Everybody was surprised over the appointment of the incumbent Telecom Secretary J S Deepak (IAS:1982: UP) as OSD in the Dept of Commerce (with immediate effect), as it came in the guise of a future plum posting as India's Ambassador/Permanent Representative to WTO (Geneva). The WTO Geneva post is scheduled to fall vacant as Ms. Anjali Prasad (IAS:1983: UD) will be retiring on 31st May 2017. J S Deepak will takeover from Ms Prasad on 01 June 2017 and will remain posted at WTO (Geneva) till his retirement on 31 July 2018. It has coincided with the government getting ready to announce a new spectrum policy. Even as everybody is puzzled over the reason and its implications, the decision seems to have an amazing mix of meanings: whether it was ceremonious or unceremonious, a reward or a punishment. To many, at first sight, it appears like a plum posting. To others, it's a highly sophisticated way of government expressing its displeasure. His sudden appointment as OSD in Dept of Commerce may be cited as an example of advance succession planning for Geneva posting. But the question that keeps creeping is what was the exigency to appoint a serving Secretary under another Secretary who is only one year senior to her. He could have been posted to Geneva right before the vacancy arises on 31 May 2017. Having served as Additional Secretary in Dept of Commerce till 29 Jan 2016, Deepak is well versed with the affairs of Dept of Commerce; so he doesn't require time to learn about the domain. The Geneva post is an Additional Secretary level post under Commerce Ministry. Usually, senior Joint Secretary or Additional Secretary level officers have been posted as Permanent Representative of India to WTO (Geneva) in the recent past. For example; Jayant Dasgupta (Retd IAS:1981: BH), then JS in Dept of Commerce, was posted to WTO before Ms. Prasad. Similary, Dasgupta's predecessor U S Bhatia (an Odisha cadre IAS) was sent to WTO when he served in JS rank. Prior to Bhatia, K M Chandrashekhar was given this WTO post when he was JS. Ms. Prasad got the WTO posting when she was Additional Secretary in DIPPin the Ministry of Commerce & Industry. So probably it is for the first time that a senior serving secretary is being sent to WTO where he will be reporting to the Commerce Secretary (1981) who is only one batch senior to him. So it looks more like a case of dignified ouster rather than a plum posting. It could have been a plum posting for a civil servant serving in the rank of JS or even AS as in the case of Dasgupta and Ms Prasad. Not otherwise in view of the precedents.