India, June 1 -- The Himachal Pradesh government on Monday entrusted senior IAS officer Kamlesh Kumar Pant with the additional charge of chief secretary with immediate effect.

Pant, a 1993-batch officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre, is currently the senior-most bureaucrat in the state.

He succeeds Sanjay Gupta, who had been serving as the acting chief secretary since October last year before being formally appointed as the regular chief secretary just five days prior to his superannuation on May 31.

Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu praised Gupta's tenure, noting that he served the state effectively and steered several critical decisions during his term.

According to an official notification issued by the department of personnel,...