Calcutta, March 24: The Calcutta Port Trust (CPT) has got a new acting chairman following the arrest of Raj Pal Singh Kahlon earlier this month in an alleged bribery scandal.

Movva Tirumala Krishna Babu has taken charge of the CPT, the country's oldest and only riverine port, in addition to his full-time responsibility as the chairman of the Visakhapatnam Port Trust after the shipping ministry notified his name last evening.

He met senior officials of the Calcutta Dock System and the Haldia Dock Complex here today and cleared several files that required the chairman's signature.

Babu, a 1993 IAS cadre from Andhra Pradesh, is expected to take a tour of the Calcutta Dock System tomorrow.

Calcutta Police had picked up Kahlon, who was the chairman of the CPT for three years, on March 9 for allegedly accepting Rs 20 lakh in cash from a person representing a private firm. Kahlon will remain in Presidency jail till the next hearing of the case on March 31.

After the completion of his seven-day remand in police custody, Kahlon had applied for bail on March 17, but it was rejected and he was sent to judicial custody.

Babu will attend the meeting of CPT's board of trustee, the highest decision-making body of the port, on March 29 where several decisions are expected to be taken. He takes charge at a time the post of deputy chairman is vacant for quite some time.

Moreover, Manish Jain, deputy chairman of the Haldia Dock Complex for the last five years, is expected to move on after April 13 unless there is a last-minute change.

Jain had acted as the CPT chairman during the crisis period when Haldia Bulk Terminal, a joint venture between ABG of Mumbai and LDA of France, quit Haldia levelling charges against the port and the Bengal administration.