Shanti Kumari is new Chief Secretary of Telangana

Shanti Kumari has been appointed as the new Chief Secretary of Telangana a day after Somesh Kumar was relieved from his post and asked to report to Andhra Pradesh.

Hyderabad:A day after senior bureaucrat Somesh Kumar was relieved from his post, IAS officer A. Shanti Kumari was appointed as the new Chief Secretary of Telangana on Wednesday. The state government issued orders appointing her as the Chief Secretary after Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao gave his consent for her appointment to the top bureaucratic post in the State. The order comes a day after the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) relieved Somesh Kumar from the post.

A 1989 batch officer, Shanti Kumari will be the first woman to take up the top post in the state. A post-graduate in Marine Biology, she has pursued MBA in the US and also worked in the United Nations programmes for two years. She has been working in the areas of poverty alleviation, education, health, skill development and forest departments in the past three decades of her service.

She has also worked in United Nations development programs for two years. Previously, she served as Principal Secretary in the CM's Office and Special Secretary of the Industry Chasing Cell in Telangana State IPS. On Tuesday, the High Court upheld the order issued by the Central Government allotting Somesh Kumar to Andhra Pradesh.

Within a few hours of the High Court's verdict, the Central Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) issued orders relieving Somesh Kumar from Telangana. This made the appointment of a new CS inevitable. Shantikumari will continue in office as CS till 2025.