Minnie is the second woman IAS officer to become the state Chief Secretary after Sathi Nair, who held the post in 2002 during Chandrababu Naidu's regime. Both women hailed from Kerala.
Minnie was Chief Commissioner of Land Administration, a post that ranks next to the Chief Secretary in the state IAS hierarchy. However, she would hold the post only for eight months as she would retire on February 28, 2013.
Notable among her previous postings were as Collector of Hyderabad, Secretary of AP Public Service Commission, Secretary of AP State Election Commission, Principal Secretary (Industries) and Managing Director of AP Mineral Development Corporation.
She also served as chairperson of Coconut Board under deputation to Government of India. She was also the Controller at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram.
Minnie succeeds Pankaj Dwivedi of 1975-batch who retired from service on attaining the age of superannuation today. Dwivedi handed over charge to Minnie this afternoon.
Though there was speculation that Dwivedi would be given a three-month extension, the Chief Minister chose to go for a fresh face keeping with the tradition being followed over the past few years.
Like some of his predecessors, Dwivedi too may be "rehabilitated" in some other official post in the near future, government sources said.
Meanwhile, two Special Chief Secretary-rank IAS officers of the state cadre Sripad Bhale Rao (1975 batch) and G Sudhir (1977) also retired from service today.
Bhale Rao was Special CS of Animal Husbandry Department while Sudhir headed the Medical and Health Department. Mahbubnagar district Collector M Purushottam Reddy also retired from service today.
