Prasanna Kumar Mohanty appointed chief secretary of AP

Hyderabad: Dr Prasanna Kumar Mohanty, an IAS officer of the 1979 batch, has been appointed as Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh government.

He succeeds Minnie Mathew who retired today after completing a three-month extension. Mohanty has worked in various capacities in different parts of the state. He was collector of Guntur, Commissioner of Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation and Commissioner and Special Officer of (erstwhile) Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad. In the last two stints, he had won the Prime Minister’s Award for best civic services and it was during his tenure from 1999 to 2001 that Hyderabad got a facelift as it emerged into a metropolis. Mohanty obtained Masters and doctorate degrees from Boston University and completed his post-doctorate work in Finance Policy and Urban Affairs from the Harvard. He was Joint Secretary and Mission Director in the Union Urban Affairs Ministry in 2006 and rose to become Secretary and Mission Director. He returned to his parent AP cadre in January this year and was appointed Chief Commissioner of Land Administration, as a stop-gap arrangement as incumbent Chief Secretary Minnie Mathew was given a three-month extension to overcome certain legal issues. His tenure as Chief Secretary will end in February 2014. Meanwhile, IYR Krishna Rao of the 1979 batch has been appointed as Chief Commissioner of Land Administration in place of Mohanty. IANS