With her appointment as the new chief secretary of Karnataka, Shalini Rajneesh will become the fifth woman to occupy the post. In the past, the post was held by Teresa Bhattacharya (July 2001 to March 2002), Malati Das (Oct 2006 to Dec 2006), K Ratna Prabha (Dec 2017 to Dec 2018) and Vandita Sharma (May 2022 to Nov 2023).