Prabodh Saxena appointed Himachal Pradesh chief secretary

Prabodh Saxena has been appointed as the new chief secretary of Himachal Pradesh, according to a notification.

The 1990-batch IAS officer replaces R D Dhiman who retired on Saturday and has been appointed as the state's chief information commissioner. Dhiman, a 1988-batch IAS officer, was appointed chief secretary on July 13 last year.

The notification on Saxena's appointment to the post was issued late Saturday night.

Saxena was additional chief secretary for the departments of finance, planning, statistics, personnel, environment and science and technology. He was also chairman of the state pollution control board. Born in 1965 in Uttar Pradesh, he is an economics and law graduate.

Saxena has superseded five officers for the post -- Ram Subhag Singh and Nisha Singh of the 1987 batch, Ali Raza Rizvi and Sanjay Gupta of the 1988 batch, and K Sanjay Murthy of the 1989 batch.

Ram Subhag Singh and Nisha Singh were appointed principal advisors when Dhiman was elevated to the post of chief secretary in July last year while Rizvi and Murthy are on deputation in the central government.

During the tenure of the previous BJP government in Himachal Pradesh, the state saw seven chief secretaries -- VC Pharka, Vineet Chowdhary, BK Aggarwal, Shrikant Baldi, Anil Khachi, Ram Subagh Singh and Dhiman.

In another development, Sanjay Gupta, principal advisor redressal and public grievances, has been appointed as the chairman-cum-managing director of the Ropeways and Rapid Transport System Development Corporation and chairman of the Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board.

He will work under the overall administrative control and supervision of the chief minister, and will be equivalent in rank and status of chief secretary, the notification said.