CHENNAI: Girija Vaidyanathan, a 1981 batch IAS officer, is the new Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu government. In the order, she will be 45th Chief Secretary of the State. She will also hold full additional charge as the Vigilance Commissioner and Commissioner for Administrative Reforms.
At present, she is the Commissioner of Land Administration. She replaces P Rama Mohana Rao. IT raids were conducted on the residence and office of Rao on Wednesday.
Known as a straight forward officer all along her career, Vaidyanathan's appointment will tone up the administration. She is proficient in Tamil, Hindi and English. She has a doctorate in health economics from Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai.
Girija Vaidyanathan started her career as a Sub-Collector in 1983. During the past 34 years of her career, she has headed many key departments included health, civil supplies, personnel management and general administration, education, industries, finance, environment and forests, planning and programme Implementation, urban development, power and land development and revenue management.
She has wide experience in the designing and financing of schemes in the development sector. She spent many years in departments like health, nutrition and environment departments.
During her tenure as Mission Director of the State Health Society, Tamil Nadu received the award for best performance among the non-empowered action group States.
She has been involved in the implementation of various programmes in the health sector, with specific focus on improvement of maternal and child health and strengthening of the public health system in the state.