The Cabinet on Wednesday appointed senior bureaucrat Bishwanath Sinha as the next Chief Secretary of Kerala. Mr. Sinha is at present Additional Chief Secretary, Home.

A 1991 batch IAS officer, he had served as Kerala’s Resident Commissioner in New Delhi. Mr. Sinha has two more years of service left and is slated to retire in 2028. Present Chief Secretary A. Jayathilak is set to retire on June 30.

The Cabinet also decided to recommend to the Governor to appoint N. Seshadrinathan as the State Election Commissioner. Mr. Seshadrinathan, a native of Ernakulam, is a retired district judge.

The previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government had in March this year recommended the Governor to appoint Law Secretary K.G. Sanal Kumar. However, the Governor did not take a decision on the recommendation. N. Anilkumar has been appointed the Lokayukta Special Government Pleader.

The Cabinet also decided to appoint four Special Government Pleaders, 12 Senior Government Pleaders and 24 Government Pleaders in the Kerala High Court. The families of three Kudumbashree workers who died when the wall of a hospital building collapsed in Bengaluru will be provided ₹5 lakh each from the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund.

It was also decided to provide financial assistance of ₹5 lakh each to the families of the three people who died in a road accident at Nileshwaram Junction in Kottarakara on Tuesday. The government will bear the medical expenses of the injured.

The Cabinet also decided to extend for one more year 243 posts in six special land registration offices in Idukki, Thrissur (LA) Unit No. 1 Special Tahsildar’s office in Thrissur, Peerumade Land Registration Office, and Special Tahsildar’s office for land acquisition for Nemom railway line.