The Central Government has appointed senior IAS officer Puneet Kumar Goel as the new Chief Secretary of Manipur. Goel, a 1991-batch officer of the AGMUT cadre, replaces Prashant Kumar Singh, a 1993-batch IAS officer of the Manipur cadre. The appointment was announced through an order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday, July 16, 2025.

Prashant Kumar Singh has now been appointed as Secretary of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) in the rank and pay of Secretary to the Government of India. His appointment was approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, as per a Personnel Ministry order dated July 15.

Prashant Singh was posted to Manipur on January 11, 2025, from the Centre, where he was serving as Secretary of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. He took over as Manipur Chief Secretary following the repatriation of Vineet Joshi, who was appointed as the Union Higher Education Secretary on December 25, 2024.

Goel, who now steps into the role, was previously serving as Secretary of the NCST before being appointed to head the state bureaucracy in strife-torn Manipur.