Chennai: N Muruganandam, a senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from the 1991 Tamil Nadu cadre, has been appointed as the 50th Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu. He takes over from Shiv Das Meena, who will retire in October.

Muruganandam has held several key positions throughout his career, including Collector of Coimbatore, Karur, and Chennai. In 2019, he was named Industries Secretary, where he was instrumental in managing oxygen supplies during the Covid-19 second wave. He later served as Finance Secretary in 2021, followed by his role as Secretary-1 to the Chief Minister.

His extensive experience extends to the central government, where he served as Private Secretary to the then Union Shipping Minister, GK Vasan, and as Joint Secretary in the Union Shipping Ministry.

An engineering graduate in Computer Science from Anna University, Muruganandam also holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. /BI