Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer of the 1988 batch Veera Rana has been appointed new chief secretary of the state. The state government issued orders giving additional charge of chief secretary (CS) to Veera Rana.
Incumbent CS Iqbal Singh Bains of the 1985 MP cadre retired on Thursday after serving two extensions of six months each. Bains was due to retire in November 2022 but the CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan gave him an extension of one year, six months twice.
Veera Rana is currently posted as the chairperson of the State Board of Secondary Education. As per the official orders, she will continue in her present post and will also be the state’s Chief Secretary, as an additional charge.
She is only the second woman officer to become the chief secretary of MP. IAS officer Nirmala Buch was the first woman chief secretary of Madhya Pradesh, from September 1991 to January 1993.
Veera Rana is due for retirement in March 2024. Her husband is a retired IPS officer of the MP cadre, Sanjay Rana.
MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan called the last cabinet meeting of the state government this morning. In the meeting, the CM, ministers, and officials accorded a formal farewell to Iqbal Singh Bains. The CM also introduced Veera Rana, as the new CS in the meeting.
Interestingly, when voting was held for the state assembly polls in MP on 17 November, Bains was the CS. However, when the counting and results are declared on 3 December, Veera Rana will be the CS of MP.