Petroleum secretary P Shankar has been appointed chief secretary to the Tamil Nadu government. His appointment was cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) today.
Shankar is expected to take charge of his new assignment on June 1. The formal orders transferring him to Tamil Nadu will be issued on May 31.
It is learnt that the new Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, J Jayalalitha, has been extremely keen on having Shankar as the chief secretary to the state. She is understood to have spoken even to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in this regard.
Among the names mentioned for the post of petroleum secretary are those of rural development secretary Arun Bhatnagar, power secretary Ashok Basu and telecom secretary Shyamal Ghosh.