New CS, DGP take over in Tamil Nadu

Seasoned bureaucrat K Shanmugam and senior IPS officer J K Tripathy took over as Chief Secretary and Director General of Police (DGP) of Tamil Nadu on Sunday after the tenure of incumbents ended.

The appointment of Shanmugam and Tripathy was announced on Saturday after their names were cleared by the UPSC and Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit.

While Shanmugam was the Finance Secretary since 2010, becoming one of the very few officers to be retained in the same position appointed during M Karunanidhi regime by J Jayalalithaa when she returned to power in 2011, Tripathy was the Chairman, Uniformed Services Recruitment Board, Chennai.

While Shanmugam hails from Salem district of Tamil Nadu, Tripathy was born in Odisha. The IAS officer has held various positions and had also worked at the office of S S Palanimanickam when he was the Union Minister of State for Finance during the UPA regime.

Tripathy replaces T K Rajendran who retired on Sunday after the end of his two-year fixed tenure, while Shanmugam replaces Girija Vaidyanathan who attained superannuation.

Tripathy has several accomplishments to his credit, such as the adoption of Complaint Box System and bagging the International Community Policing Award instituted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), Washington.

He had also served as Chennai Police commissioner.