India has a new home secretary. Rajiv Mehrishi, retiring today from finance ministry, will be new home secretary with a two-year term of office.

Home secretary LC Goyal, whose appointment in February was also sudden, has sought voluntary retirement and it has been approved by prime minister Narendra Modi. He has reportedly cited "personal reasons." Goyal had replaced Anil Goswami. Goyal, a Kerala cadre IAS officer of the 1979 batch, was appointed Home Secretary on February 5 with a two-year-fixed term. However, within seven months on the chair, he put in a request for voluntarily retirement from service.

Mehrishi, a 1978 batch IAS officer, was secretary in the department of economic affairs, finance ministry. He was due to retire today but has been given a two-year extension. The new home secretary has had a stint in Rajasthan where he served as chief secretary and was handpicked by the prime minister to serve in the central government.

The order which was issued on the PM's direction, and not by the committee of the cabinet, indicates the change of guard could be a last minute move. Apart from the prime minister, the two-member ACC comprises home minister Rajnath Singh.

An official statement said the prime minister had approved the appointment of Rajiv Mehrishi, IAS (RJ:1978) secretary, department of economic affairs, ministry of finance as home secretary, ministry of home affairs for a period of two years with effect from 31.08.2015.

This will be the third home secretary in the present government after Goyal's predecessor Goswami had also sought voluntary retirement last February after his name had emerged in a CBI probe for granting alleged favour to an accused in the Saradha chit find scam, Mathang Singh.

Mehrishi was widely considered to be in the running for the cabinet secretary's post. He had, however, missed the opportunity when PK Sinha was promoted.