Bhopal, Nov 30 (IANS): Veera Rana, a 1988-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, will be the new chief secretary of Madhya Pradesh.

A notification in this regard was issued by the general administration department late on Wednesday, according to which, she will take additional charge of chief secretary on Thursday.

Currently serving as the Chairperson of the Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education, Rana holds the additional charge as state Agriculture Production Commissioner.

The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan - the last cabinet meeting of his fourth term - on Wednesday.

"Veera Rana, a 1988-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, is currently serving as the Chairperson of the Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education. She will be taking additional charge of chief secretary on November 30," the notification read.

She will replace the outgoing state chief secretary, Iqbal Singh Bains, a 1985-batch IAS officer who is set to retire on November 30 after receiving two extensions.

Bains was scheduled to retire on November 30, 2022 but was granted two six-months extension until May 31, 2023 and later till November 30, 2023.

Rana will be the second women IAS officer to be elevated to the post after IAS officer Nirmala Buch, who became Madhya Pradesh's first woman Chief Secretary in the early 1990s.