Former Union Home Secretary Anil Baijal was appointed Lieutenant Governor of the National Capital Region, reports said on Wednesday, after President Pranab Mukherjee accepted outgoing LG Najeeb Jung’s resignation. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj took to Twitter to welcome Baijal as the new Delhi LG.

A 1969 Indian Administrative Service officer, Baijal had served as a union home secretary in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2004. He was also the Secretary General of the Federation of the Indian Airlines and retired from the post in 2006. In the past, he has held important posts like Chief Secretary of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Additional Secretary in the Information & Broadcast Ministry and vice-chairman of Delhi Development Authority.

On December 22, in a surprise announcement, Najeeb Jung had said he was quitting from the post of Delhi LG and that he would return to his first love, academics. Jung’s resignation came at a time when the Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi had locked horns with the lieutenant governor over administrative matters. Jung had stated on December 24 that there was no politics behind his resignation, and that since the job did not permit him to give time to his family, he decided to quit.