New Delhi, Oct 29 (IANS): Senior IPS officer of Gujarat cadre Anup Kumar Singh has taken over the charge of Director General of the elite National Security Guard (NSG), the force said on Tuesday.

Singh took over the command of NSG on Monday, 10 days after the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved his appointment as the Director General of the 'Black Cats commando' force.

The ACC had approved Singh's appointment to the post on October 18.

"The Black Cats welcome their new DG and look to move forward for achieving greater heights under his command," National Security Guard tweeted.

The 1985-batch IPS officer took charge as NSG chief from Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Director General S.S. Deswal, who was holding additional charge of the post since the superannuation of Sudeep Lakhtakia on July 31.

Singh will hold the post till September 30, 2020 from the date of joining or till further orders, whichever is earlier.

The NSG is a federal contingency "zero error" force to deal with anti-terrorist activities in all its manifestations. The force was raised as the federal contingency force to counter terrorists and hijack-like incidents in 1984.

Specially equipped and trained to deal with specific situations, it is meant to be used only in exceptional circumstances to thwart serious acts of terrorism.