S.M. Vijayanand has been appointed the next Chief Secretary of Kerala.
One of the architects of Kerala’s democratic decentralisation initiative, Mr. Vijayanand will take charge as the Chief Secretary on April 30 following current incumbent P.K. Mohanty’s superannuation.
The State Cabinet took the formal decision to appoint Mr. Vijayanand as the next Chief Secretary of the State at its meeting here on Wednesday.
Mr. Vijayanand is now Secretary, Panchayati Raj, with additional charge of Secretary, Rural Development, in the Ministry of Rural Development.
The Cabinet had, in February, requested the Centre to spare Mr. Vijayanand’s services for his appointment to the top job in the State Civil Service.
The Appointments Committee of the Union Cabinet has decided to relieve him on April 25.
A 1981-batch IAS officer, Mr. Vijayanand passed his MA (English) with first rank from the University of Kerala and cleared his Civil Services examination securing seventh rank.
During his 11 years as Secretary, Local Self-Government, Mr. Vijayanand had played a key role in the devolution of funds, powers and personnel to the local government institutions, besides serving as Member-Secretary of the Sen Committee on Democratic Decentralisation and member of the State Finance Commission headed by economist Prabhat Patnaik.
