Chief secretary, DGP appointed

CHENNAI: The state government on Saturday announced the appointment of senior bureaucrat K. Shanmugam as chief secretary, succeeding Girija Vaidyanathan; and J. K. Tripathy as DGP (law and order) and head of police force.

Odisha’s Jalad Kumar Tripathy succeeds T.K. Rajendran.

Governor Banwarilal Purohit cleared the names of the two newly appointed chiefs. Issuing transfer orders to her successor, outgoing Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan notified that she was retiring on Sunday post noon. K Shanmugam, presently posted as Additional Chief Secretary to Government, Finance Department, is expected to take over in the afternoon. Outgoing Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan is the second longest-serving woman chief secretary after Lakshmi Pranesh.

 Following a meeting of the Empanelment Committee of the Union Public Service Commission and its recommendation, the state government has appointed J.K. Tripathy as Director General of Police and Head of Police Force.  Both the chiefs are from the 1985 batch of the Indian Administrative Services and Indian Police Services, respectively.

During his nine-year-long stint at the finance department K. Shanmugam was appointed Director of Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Limited. In addition to serving as Collector of Sivaganga and Pudukkottai district early in his career, he also headed the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation.   Tripathy, expected to take charge on Sunday, currently occupies the office of the chairman of the Uniformed Service Recruitment Board (DGP). He had also served as Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order).