Santhi Kumari takes over as new T’gana chief secy

Kumari, who is the 1989-batch officer, took charge as new chief secretary on Wednesday afternoon, relieving Kumar.

Senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer A Santhi Kumari was on Wednesday appointed as Telangana chief secretary, people in the know of the matter said.

The development comes a day after the Telangana high court on Tuesday set aside the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) order (Hyderabad bench) and directed shifting of senior IAS officer and state chief secretary Somesh Kumar from Telangana cadre to Andhra Pradesh, as allotted by the Centre during the bifurcation of combined Andhra Pradesh state in 2014.

Kumari, who is the 1989-batch officer, took charge as new chief secretary on Wednesday afternoon, relieving Kumar. She will be the first woman chief secretary of Telangana. Later, she met chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao at Pragati Bhavan and reported for duty.

Several senior officials, including director general of police Anjani Kumar, met Kumari at her chambers and congratulated her on her new appointment.

Speaking to the reporters, Kumari said she was thankful to the chief minister for “reposing faith in her and appointing her as the new chief secretary”. She said she will put in the best efforts “to implement the development and welfare schemes taken up by the government with the support of people’s representatives and colleagues in the administration”.

A postgraduate in marine biology, Kumari also completed her MBA from the US. She has served in various capacities in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh and later in Telangana. Previously, she was served as the special chief secretary for the environment and forests department.