Sheela Balakrishnan appointed as Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu - Friday Dec 28,2012

Tamil Nadu Govt on Friday Dec 28,2012 appointed Sheela Balakrishnan as the state Chief Secretary succeeding Debendranath Sarangi, who is retiring on December 31,2012

Sheela Balakrishnan will be the 3rd woman to occupy the post, the other two being -
1)Lakshmi Pranesh (December 2002-April 2005) and
2)S. Malathi (August 2010-May 2011)

 Personal Details

Sheela Balakrishnan, a Post-Graduate in English, began her 35-year-long innings in Govt as Assistant Collector (Training), Thanjavur, in 1977.In 1983, she became Social Welfare Director and in 1992, Commissioner of Industries and Commerce. Among other positions held by her are Commissioner of Fisheries (1996-1998) and Secretary of the Social Welfare and Nutritious Meal Programme Department (2000-2001).After a brief spell as Transport Secretary in 2001, Sheela Balakrishnan in 2002 joined the Chief Minister’s office as Secretary when Jayalalithaa was Chief Minister during 2001-06

After the change of regime in 2006, she was transferred as Commissioner of Disciplinary Proceedings, Salem, and a year later, she was the head of the Anna Institute of Management.

When J Jayalalithaa became Chief Minister again in May 2011, Sheela Balakrishnan was posted Additional Chief Secretary (Social Welfare and Nutritious Meal Programme)
Sheela Balakrishnan is currently Additional Chief Secretary to the government, Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department, an official release said