Arun Jaitley to resume work as Finance Minister in August

Union minister Arun Jaitley will be back at his North Block office later this month after a three-month-long hiatus, according to people familiar with the matter.

Jaitley, who was named finance minister by prime minister Narendra Modi in 2014, underwent a renal transplant in mid-May. Jaitley’s first-floor corner office in North Block is being renovated and sanitized so that the minister is protected against infection, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. Jaitley’s three-month quarantine period, prescribed by doctors, will end by mid-August, they said.

Jaitley has been active on social media for the last few weeks, from taking on opposition parties to writing on issues including cuts to the goods and services tax rates. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has held the charge in Jaitley’s absence, even as the latter held video conferences with officials and addressed events remotely, prompting the opposition to ask who India’s finance minister was.