A law graduate, Choudhary, will continue in the post for 10 months. He started his career as a sub-divisional officer (SDO), Sitamarhi, in 1974. Before that, he taught law at Allahabad and Banaras Hindu universities.

Talking to mediapersons after taking over the charge, Choudhary said he along with his team of bureaucrats would work to achieve the targets set by the government. "Poverty alleviation, increasing the gross domestic product (GDP) and ensuring timely benefits to BPL beneficiaries are our areas of priority," he said. "With better coordination among the officers, we would be able to implement the policies better."

He had a word of praise for Bihar's officials. "Bureaucracy in Bihar is the best. I don't agree that a rot has set in here. The result of schemes introduced by the government will start showing soon," he said.

The outgoing chief secretary, Kang, had words of praise for chief minister Nitish Kumar. "Whatever he is doing, it is for the betterment of the state. The bureaucracy wants decisiveness or else work gets."