Hyderabad, September 29: Senior IAS officer and Special Secretary (Land Administration) Pankaj Dwivedi has been appointed as the new Chief Secretary of the State Government. He will be taking charge from SV Prasad who retired on September 30.
A 1975-batch IAS officer, Dwivedi was earlier the Chief Commissioner of Land Administration. He is the senior most officer in the state at the moment and his appointment has the backing of the Congress High Command.
After relinquishing his office as Chief Secretary, SV Prasad will take over as State Vigilance Commissioner, according to a GO issued on Thursday. Further, Vinay Kumar has been appointed as Principal Secretary to Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy. In a minor re-shuffle, K Satyanarayana has been appointed as the Chief Commissioner of Land Administration.
Earlier, it was planned to extend the tenure of SV Prasad for another three months in view of Telangana stir and other pressing problems. SV Prasad was close to both TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu as well as former Chief Minister K Rossiah. However, he did not had cordial relations with present Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy. As a result, neither party was keen on an extension of the post. (INN)