Less than 24 hours after IAS officers Rohini Sindhuri and Shilpa Nag were transferred late on Saturday following a public spat, their replacements, Bagadi Gautham and Lakshmikanth Reddy, took charge as the Deputy Commissioner of Mysuru and the Commissioner of Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) respectively.
Ms. Nag, who had announced her resignation alleging “harassment” from Ms. Sindhuri, handed over the charge to Mr. Reddy on Sunday and said that she was withdrawing her resignation. “I gave my resignation only because one person was ruining the system. I will now withdraw it and join duty in RDPR (as director for e-governance) in Bengaluru from Monday,” she said.
Ms. Sindhuri, who has been transferred as Commissioner for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments, was conspicuous by her absence.
Earlier in the day, Ms. Sindhuri went to Bengaluru and called on Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa at his residence. Mr. Yediyurappa told reporters in Bengaluru that Ms. Sindhuri had been told that there was no question of reconsidering the transfer. He said that she has been asked to report for work in Bengaluru.
Officials said the outgoing DC had completed the formalities for handing over charge to her successor. Additional Deputy Commissioner B.S. Manjunath was present when Mr. Gautham took charge.
In a message on the WhatsApp group of print journalists, Ms. Sindhuri said: “My last post as DC Mysuru. Thank You Mysuru for the opportunity. I did my best under the prevailing circumstances”.
Speaking to reporters, Mr. Gautham said he would try to provide a “transparent, clean, people-friendly, responsive, and efficient administration to the best of our abilities while upholding the prestige of the government”.
He promised to work towards taking citizens, people’s representatives, officials, civil society, and the media into confidence on the work taken by the district administration while promising to accord priority to fight COVID-19.
He said he will continue with the ongoing work and will bring minor changes, if necessary, keeping the public interest in mind. To a question, Mr. Gautham said he held discussions with officials, including the former DC and MCC Commissioner, before taking charge.
