Shimla: The 1985-batch IAS officer and state's Additional Chief Secretary Srikant Baldi has been appointed as new Chief Secretary of Himachal Pradesh. The orders were issued on Saturday at the end of the monsoon session of the state assembly.
Baldi,who was also Chief Minister's Principal secretary, will replace B K Agarwal, who has been appointed as Secretary to Lokpal in the rank of Secretary to the government of India. Both Aggarwal and Baldi belong to 1985–batch. Aggarwal was appointed Chief Secretary only recently on retirement of Vineet Chowdhary, a 1982-batch IAS officer
Baldi, who has seen a steady rise in the career has worked as state's finance secretary, during the Congress as well as BJP regimes led by Virbhadra Singh, Prem Kumar Dhumal and later Jai Ram Thakur.
Baldi will continue to hold the charge of housing department, Tourism and civil aviation department. He will remain the chief secretary for less than four months as he will retire in December.