Additional Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary to the chief minister Shrikant Baldi was appointed as the Chief Secretary of Himachal Pradesh on Saturday, an official spokesman said on Saturday.
Baldi will hold his new charge from the date B K Agarwal will relinquish his charge as Chief Secretary to join his new posting as Secretary to Lokpal in the rank of Secretary to the government of India, he said.
An IAS officer of the 1985 batch, Baldi will continue to hold the charge of housing department. He will also hold charge of tourism and civil aviation department in addition to his own duties, the spokesman added.
Badli will remain the chief secretary for a short tenure of less than four months as he will retire in December.
The state Cabinet in its meeting held here on Saturday under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur appreciated the services of outgoing Chief Secretary B K Agarwal in the various capacities for the state, a statement issued said.
Wishing him best of luck for his new posting as the secretary to Lokpal, the Cabinet lauded his contributions for his valuable suggestions for framing the policies and programmes of the state government for the benefit of the people and development of the state, it said.