diff --git a/scripts/lib/sharding.py b/scripts/lib/sharding.py
index 2b4c9ab8e9..089bb7b76b 100755
--- a/scripts/lib/sharding.py
+++ b/scripts/lib/sharding.py
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
 import argparse
 import filecmp
+import grp
 import json
 import os
+import pwd
 import subprocess
 import sys
 
@@ -77,6 +79,14 @@ def write_updated_configs() -> None:
         data = {"shard_map": shard_map, "shard_regexes": shard_regexes}
         sharding_json_f.write(json.dumps(data) + "\n")
 
+        for fh in (nginx_sharding_conf_f, sharding_json_f):
+            os.fchown(
+                fh.fileno(),
+                pwd.getpwnam("zulip").pw_uid,
+                grp.getgrnam("zulip").gr_gid,
+            )
+            os.fchmod(fh.fileno(), 0o644)
+
 
 parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
     description="Adjust Tornado sharding configuration",
diff --git a/scripts/refresh-sharding-and-restart b/scripts/refresh-sharding-and-restart
index f684a58bb8..14c0ec9caa 100755
--- a/scripts/refresh-sharding-and-restart
+++ b/scripts/refresh-sharding-and-restart
@@ -12,10 +12,6 @@ if ! [ -e /etc/zulip/nginx_sharding_map.conf.tmp ] || ! [ -e /etc/zulip/sharding
     exit 1
 fi
 
-chown zulip:zulip /etc/zulip/nginx_sharding_map.conf.tmp
-chmod 644 /etc/zulip/nginx_sharding_map.conf.tmp
-chown zulip:zulip /etc/zulip/sharding.json.tmp
-chmod 644 /etc/zulip/sharding.json.tmp
 mv /etc/zulip/nginx_sharding_map.conf.tmp /etc/zulip/nginx_sharding_map.conf
 mv /etc/zulip/sharding.json.tmp /etc/zulip/sharding.json