The corridors of Fort St George are abuzz with talk about some likely changes in the top bureaucracy in Tamil Nadu.
The word in the circle of civil servants is that Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan, who is on leave since she sustained a leg injury after a fall at the residence of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami last month, could be given some other posting. She is expected to return to duty in the middle of next week. Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) K. Shanmugam, who has been officiating as the Chief Secretary, is being tipped as her successor.
Finance Secretary post
In the event of Mr. Shanmugam getting promoted as Chief Secretary, the names that are being cited for Finance Secretary are Principal Secretary (Planning and Development) T.V. Somanathan, who handled the subject of Union Finance Ministry at the Prime Minister’s Office till a few months ago, and M. Sai Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director of the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO). While both are widely respected officers, one factor that is mentioned against Dr. Sai Kumar is that he has not worked at the Finance department. Interestingly, Mr. Shanmugam too, before becoming the Finance Secretary in May 2010, did not have any experience of being part of the Finance department. Apart from the two, S. Krishnan, now Principal Secretary (Housing and Urban Development), has been regarded by his colleagues for long as Mr. Shanmugam’s likely successor.
Apparently, the civil servants do not have any clue as to what post Ms. Vaidyanathan will be given, if transferred. The name of Vikram Kapur, the only officer of the 1988 batch of the Tamil Nadu cadre to get empanelled by the Central government for Additional Secretary, is being mentioned as the next CMD of TANGEDCO.
But till Friday evening, there was no official communication on the changes.
