Shekhar Prasad Singh on Sunday assumed charge as the new Chief Secretary of Telangana.

He succeeded K Pradeep Chandra, who retired from service on reaching superannuation.

Earlier in the day the state government issued orders appointing Singh as the new Chief Secretary.

Prior to this appointment, Singh was serving as the Special Chief Secretary, Panchayat Raj department.

His appointment came as no extension was given to Pradeep Chandra, who had assumed office a month ago.

Singh belongs to 1983 batch of Indian Administrative Service.

The names of Singh and M G Gopal were under consideration for the top post but the government preferred Singh.

Chandra had taken as the Chief Secretary only a month ago after Rajiv Sharma stepped down on reaching superannuation. Sharma, who served as the first Chief Secretary of the new state since 2014' has been appointed as chief advisor to the government.

Meanwhile, the government has appointed A K Khan as the advisor to the government for minority affairs. Khan, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, retired as Director General of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and Charu Sinha replaces him in the post.

In another development, the government appointed Arvind Kumar as the new Resident Commissioner in Telangana Bhavan in New Delhi.