Chandigarh:
Senior IAS officer Shakuntla Jakhu will be the new chief secretary of Haryana, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced today.
A 1978-batch Indian Administration Services officer, Ms Jakhu will assume charge on Thursday following the retirement of outgoing SC Chaudhary. She is presently the additional Chief Secretary of Revenue and Disaster Management.
The Hooda government has already cleared Mr Chaudhary's name to be appointed as chairman of the Right to Service Commission.
In recent years, Haryana has seen four women IAS officers being elevated to the highest bureaucratic assignment. All women chief secretaries were made during the Hooda regime (2005-to date).
These include Ms Urvashi Gulati (2009), Ms Promila Issar (2007) and Ms Meenaxi Anand Chaudhary (2005).
Ironically, Haryana has the worst sex ratio among states in the country at just 879 females per 1,000 males.