Lucknow, July 31 -- Ending uncertainty over the state's top bureaucratic post, Shashi Prakash Goyal, a 1989-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, was appointed the new chief secretary on Thursday and took charge of the assignment, putting at rest speculation over service extension to Manoj Kumar Singh, a 1988-batch IAS officer, who retired on the day as there was no response from the Centre to the state government's request to give him a longer innings.

Goyal, who was serving as additional chief secretary to the chief minister, led the CM's secretariat for over eight years and is considered close to Yogi Adityanath. With Goyal's appointment as chief secretary, Sanjay Prasad will now lead the CM's secretariat as principal secretar...