New Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra took charge on Thursday, succeeding G. Mohan Kumar.
Mitra, a 1982 batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre, was announced as the new Defence Secretary on May 10.
Mitra, who was the Road and Transport Secretary, was appointed as Officer on Special duty in the Defence Ministry on May 10, and took over as the Defence Secretary on completion of the tenure of incumbent secretary G. Mohan Kumar.
He will have a fixed two-year tenure.
Mitra, who is from Delhi, has served as the Chief Secretary in West Bengal and also served as Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office of Manmohan Singh from November 2004 to July 2011.
A post-graduate in Physics and Economics, Mitra also did his Mason Fellowship at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, US, in 1995-96.