The Manohar Lal Khattar Government in Haryana on Sunday appointed senior IAS officer Keshni Anand Arora as the state’s new Chief Secretary.
Arora, 58, replaces D S Dhesi, who retired on June 30.
Keshni Anand Arora is the third of three sisters to hold the top bureaucratic post in the state.
Before Arora, a 1983-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, her sisters — Meenakshi Anand Chaudhary and Urvashi Gulati — were Chief Secretary of the state.
Chaudhary remained Chief Secretary of Haryana from November 8, 2005 to April 30, 2006 while Gulati remained Chief Secretary from October 31, 2009 to March 31, 2012.
Keshni Anand Arora’s father Jagdish Chander was a professor of Political
Science at Panjab University here. During his career, many of his students made it to the IAS.
Arora has previously served as additional Chief Secretary, Haryana Government, and Financial Commissioner, Revenue and Disaster Management and Consolidation Departments, said an official spokesman.
She will be the 33rd chief secretary of Haryana since it was carved out as a separate state in 1966, he said.
She played an important role in implementation of adult literacy by voluntary organizations in the district and in handling law and order situation during Mandal Commission, he added.
The 1983 Haryana cadre IAS officer will also hold the charge of general administration, personnel, training, parliamentary affairs, administrative reforms departments and secretary in-charge of plan coordination, a government’s order said.