The government has appointed Lila Devi Gadtaula as the chief secretary of the country.

With this government decision, she has become the first woman to hold the top post of Nepal’s civil service.

A Cabinet meeting on Thursday decided to promote Acting Chief Secretary Gadtaula to the position of chief secretary, Minister for Information and Communications Prithvi Subba Gurung, who is also spokesperson of the government, told mediapersons after the meeting.

Previously, the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government assigned her the role of acting chief secretary on July 15.

Born in Tehrathum on August 31, 1966, Gadtaula will retire from the civil service on August 31, based on age bar. She will be in office as the chief secretary for about 35 days from now.

The Cabinet meeting also appointed Dr Shiva Raj Adhikari of Palpa as the vice chair and Dr Ramesh Prasad Singh, Dr Prakash Kumar Shrestha, Gita Kumari Paudel Adhikari, Dr Jay Bahadur Tandon and Ganga Dutta Awasthi as members of the National Planning Commission.