Dave, 60, passed away on May 18 after suffering a cardiac arrest.
"Though I have taken over the charge of the environment ministry today, it is a sad moment for me because we have recently lost one of our dear friends, who was a great human being, lover of environment and dedicated soul who spent even the last moments of his life working for this ministry in spite of his severe illness.
"I pay my heartfelt tributes to the memory of my dear friend Anil Madhav Dave," Harsh Vardhan, who also looks after the earth sciences ministry, said.
He said his ministry would take forward the "great work" initiated by his predecessor with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"We will ensure that we put our heart and soul into ensuring that all issues related to environment protection, preservation, strengthening, improvement, related to wildlife, rivers, most contentious issues, global warming and climate change… We (will) do our best," the minister said.
Harsh Vardhan interacted with senior officials of the ministry, including the environment secretary.
Harsh Vardhan, however, did not talk about the contentious issue of Genetically Modified (GM) mustard which was recently approved for commercial use by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), a body of the ministry that evaluates GM crops.
Dave was to take the final call on the approval of GM mustard.
He asserted that his ministry would would try to involve every student and make him or her a messenger of positive health and environmental messages.
"We will put our heart and soul into ensuring that all the international issues and concerns, are also very meticulously and scientifically addressed.