The government has appointed Rajendra Kishor Chhetri as the Chief Secretary on Thursday.

A Cabinet meeting on Thursday decided to promote Chhetri to the post of Chief Secretary and he will be assuming the office from today itself.

The post of Chief Secretary became vacant after Somlal Subedi left the post to work as Alternative Executive Director at the Asian Development bank. Chhetri was the senior-most candidate among the contenders vying for the post including Narayan Gopal Malega, Shanta Bahadur Sherstha, Shanta Raj Subedi, Shankar Adhikari, Naindra Prasad Upadhyay, and Lok Darshan Regmi.

He will remain in the post for less than four months as will retire on October 25, 2017, on age ground. Born in Kathmandu’s Lainchaur on Oct 25, 1959, Chhetri joined government service in the post of section officer on January 2, 1985.

Chhetri was the secretary at the Ministry of Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation before his appointment to the post of the chief secretary. He has worked as secretary in the Vice president’s office and Energy Ministry.

Government had appointed Secretary at PM’s Office Kedar Bahadur Adhikari as acting chief secretary following Subedi’s decision to join ADB. Secretary Dhan Bahadur Tamang, who was the senior-most contender to replace Subedi, retired on Wednesday.