Imphal: The Centre appointed 1991-batch AGMUT cadre IAS officer Puneet Kumar Goel as the new Chief Secretary of Manipur on Wednesday (July 16), according to an order of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Goel replaces Prashant Kumar Singh, who belongs to the 1993 batch of the Manipur cadre. Subsequently, Singh has been appointed as Secretary, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.
The Centre had posted Singh as Manipur’s Chief Secretary on January 11, 2025, after repatriating him from his previous role as Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
His transfer came shortly after former Chief Secretary Vineet Joshi was appointed as Union Higher Education Secretary on December 25, 2024.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet cleared Singh’s appointment to the constitutional body on July 15.
He will now serve at the rank and pay scale of a Union Secretary, succeeding Goel in that post.
Amid persistent ethnic violence in Manipur, the Centre imposed President’s Rule on February 13, 2025, just days after Chief Minister N. Biren Singh resigned from his post.
The state assembly, which has a tenure till 2027, has been put under suspended animation.
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Manipur continues to grapple with ongoing ethnic unrest between the Meitei and Kuki communities, which erupted in May 2023.
The violence has claimed more than 260 lives and displaced thousands, prompting a series of high-level administrative changes in the state.
