Vishwas Mehta assumed charge as the new Chief Secretary of Kerala on June 1, Monday. He replaced Tom Jose who retired from the service on May 31.
Mehta told the media that the priority for now will be for COVID-19 containment work.
An officer of the 1986 batch, Vishwas Mehta's service tenure will end in February 2021. He was the Additional Secretary, Home, before he got promoted to the top most bureaucratic position of the state.
He is also the Additional Chief Secretary of Health, Revenue, Education and Water Resources departments in the state.
While there are three other IAS officers who are senior to Mehta - Anand Kumar of 1984 batch, and Ajayakumar and Indrajith of 1985 batch - they are serving at the Cabinet Secretary positions at the centre, and are reportedly uninterested in returning to Kerala.
The Kerala government had also decided for a major bureaucratic reshuffle in which it has promoted R Sreelekha, the first woman Director General of Police (DGP) has now assumed office as the head of the Kerala Fire and Rescue Services on June 1. The post fell vacant owing to the retirement of A Hemachandran. She was the Transport Commissioner of the state and has now been replaced by M Ajith Kumar. Sreelekha is slated to retire from service in December this year.
Further, Revenue Secretary V Venu has been made Secretary of State Planning Board. A Jayathilak has been made Revenue Secretary. TK Jose will be Additional Chief Secretary of Home Department and Vigilance.
Navjyoth Khosa, the new District Collector Thiruvananthapuram, also assumed charge on Monday. She replaced K Gopalakrishnan, who is now the new Malappuram collector. Navjyoth was the Managing Director of the Kerala Medical Services Corporation. Shankar Reddy has been posted as Road Safety Commissioner. Ishita Roy is the new Agricultural Production Commissioner. M Anjana has been transferred to the post of Kottayam Collector. Former Labour Commissioner A Alexander is the new Alappuzha Collector.