CM Bommai names Vandita Sharma as Karnataka's new chief secretary
Karnataka CM Bommai has appointed senior IAS officer Vandita Sharma as the state's new chief secretary; the incumbent, P Ravi Kumar, is set to retire on May 31.
The Karnataka government on Friday appointed senior IAS officer Vandita Sharma as the state's new chief secretary. Sharma, a 1986-batch IAS officer, is currently additional chief secretary and development commissioner. She will succeed P Ravi Kumar, who will retire on May 31.
The senior IAS officer will be in office till November 2023. She will be the 39th chief secretary and only the fourth woman to occupy the post, after Teresa Bhattacharya in 2000, Malathi Das in 2006, and K Ratna Prabha in 2017.
Hailing from Punjab, Vandita Sharma holds an undergraduate degree in Sociology and a post-graduate degree in English.
Over the past 36 years she has worked in many departments - like Land Revenue Management, District Administration, Agriculture, Urban Development, Rural Development, Women and Child Development, Panchayati Raj, Civil Aviation, Elementary Education, Tourism, Horticulture, Finance and Space.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the executive chairperson of Biocon Limited, took to Twitter to share her view of the appointment, and said: “1986 IAS batch Vandita Sharma to succeed Ravi Kumar as Chief secretary - A very thoughtful n action oriented administrator who can drive major change especially infra, health & education.”
The state's law minister and senior BJP leader J C Madhuswamy said earlier the cabinet had shortlisted nine IAS officers for the position of the next chief secretary and presented the list to Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai.
Bommai was to choose his next Chief Secretary from this list.
The list consisted of the selected candidate Vandita Sharma and her husband ISN Prasad, who is the additional chief secretary of the finance division; Rajneesh Goel, the additional chief secretary for home; Ajay Seth from central deputation; EV Ramana Reddy, the additional chief secretary for industries; Rakesh Singh, the additional chief secretary of water resources; Shalini Rajneesh, additional chief secretary for planning; G Kumar Naik, additional chief secretary for power; and former Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike chief commissioner Gaurav Gupta, who is presently the additional chief secretary of the infrastructure department.
(With agency inputs)