The Union Cabinet on Tuesday appointed retired Indian Administrative Services officer Amit Khare as an advisor to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, The Times of India reported.

Khare has been appointed to the post for a period of two years, ANI reported, citing a notification by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

Khare retired as the secretary (higher education) in the Union Ministry of Education on September 30. Earlier, he had also served as a secretary in the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Khare had played a key role in formulating the new National Education Policy, the Hindustan Times reported.

The former IAS officer also reportedly played a role in formulating the new Information Technology Rules. The rules were framed to regulate social media companies, streaming and digital news content, virtually bringing them, for the first time, under the ambit of government supervision.

The IT Rules have faced criticism from several quarters, including the Editors Guild of India. The Editors Guild had said that the rules have the potential to seriously undermine media freedom, and that several of its provisions place unreasonable restrictions on digital news media.