Goyal takes over as Home Secretary

He succeeds Anil Goswami who was forced out last night in the wake of his alleged attempt to stall the arrest of an accused in Saradha scam

Senior IAS officer L C Goyal today took over as the Home Secretary, succeeding Anil Goswami who was forced out last night in the wake of his alleged attempt to stall the arrest of Saradha scam accused Matang Sinh by CBI.

Goyal, a 1979-batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre, was the Rural Development Secretary till now. He will have a tenure of two years from today.

Soon after taking over, he called on Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

"I feel humbled by this huge responsibility. I will fulfill this responsibility with utmost sincerity, commitment, diligence and with a profound sense of accountability. To be able to do so, I solicit active support and cooperation of all stakeholders.

"The Ministry of Home Affairs' mandate is essentially to ensure effective maintenance of internal security in the country. To achieve this, necessary mechanisms, policies, and measures are in place. Wherever required and appropriate, improvements will be made within the given time-lines. This will be so done in close association and coordination with the state governments and Union Territories," Goyal said.

Goswami was last night shown the door in the wake of the controversy over his alleged attempt to talk to CBI officers to stall the arrest of Sinh, a former Congress minister at the Centre. Sinh was arrested on Saturday last.

After he was asked to resign, Goswami, a 1978-batch IAS officer of Jammu and Kashmri cadre, made a request for voluntary retirement with immediate effect by waiving the notice period which was accepted by the government.

Goswami was appointed as Home Secretary in 2013 during the tenure of UPA Government. He turned 60 last month and would have continued till June 30.