CM Bommai names Vandita Sharma as Karnataka's new chief secretary
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)
Less time to read?
Try Quickreads
-
Agra: Woman thrown off 4th-floor balcony by husband, dies
A 30-year-old woman died after Ritika Singh, the deceased was allegedly thrown off the fourth floor balcony of her house by her husband and four other people, police here said on Saturday. Police have arrested three people, including the woman's husband, Akash Gautam, and booked them in sections 302 (murder) and 34 (act done by several persons with common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, they said.
-
Colleges seek ways to accommodate non-state board students
Mumbai Admissions to minority quota across colleges affiliated with the University of Mumbai had to be completed by Saturday, June 25 this year. However, taking into consideration that non-state board students are still awaiting results in order to be able to apply, city colleges are finding ways to ensure that no student with merit goes without a seat in a college or course of his/her choice.
-
India has always been open to science-based knowledge: Yogi
Lucknow Chief minister Yogi Adityanath said here on Saturday that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh always had a scientific approach and outlook because its RSS founder, Dr KB Hedgewar was a medical practitioner and had a science background. “Krishna's teaching to Arjun in Bhagwad Gita which is now 5000- years-old, still has meaning in modern times,” Yogi said. University professors were always on the look-out for promotions but hardly made effort for scientific publications.
-
Court acquits two arrested for circulating counterfeit currency
Mumbai: Accused of circulating counterfeit Indian currency notes in the city, two men, residents of Malda district in West Bengal were acquitted of the charges by a sessions court on Thursday. Suleman Razzak Shaikh, 53, and Sanaul Julum Insarali Shaikh, 29, were arrested with 60 counterfeit notes of ₹2000 denomination, on November 8, 2017. The anti-extortion cell of the Mumbai police crime branch had received a specific tip-off.
-
In Patna, over ₹3 crore in cash seized from drug inspector’s house
A separate team raided a drug inspector Jitendra Kumar's native place at Ghonsi in Jehanabad, flats in Civil Lines of Gaya district, Pharmacy College, Gola Road (Danapur) and a newly-built house at Khan-Mirza locality falling under Sultanganj police station in Patna City. Currently, he is posted in Patna and runs a Pharmacy College. It is believed that Jitendra's entire tenure in Patna with the drug control administration has been controversial.
