TN Home Secretary among several IAS officers transferred amidst criticism over law & order
Tamil Nadu government transfers Home Secretary P Amudha among 60 officials. Dheeraj Kumar replaces her. Chief Minister MK Stalin initiates reshuffle amid criticism over law and order.
Chennai: In a major bureaucratic reshuffle, the Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday transferred home secretary P Amudha, among 60 others.
She has been replaced with Dheeraj Kumar, currently additional chief secretary to government, and holds charge of information technology and digital services department. Kumar has also been allotted the home, prohibition and excise department.
Amudha has been posted as principal secretary, revenue and disaster management department.
The reshuffle comes close in the heels of the murder of two political leaders in the state -- K Armstrong of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Naam Tamilar Katchi’s Balasubramanian in Madurai.
Chief minister MK Stalin brought in these transfers after his ruling DMK government and the Tamil Nadu police came under mounting criticism from the opposition over the law and order in the state.
On June 3, an AIADMK functionary M Shanmugam was murdered in Salem. Police had arrested a DMK ward councillor Dhanabhagiyam of the Salem municipal corporation, her husband Sathish and 12 others stating that it was a personal enmity over local development work.
Amudha’s transfer comes a week after the Greater Chennai police commissioner Sandeep Rai Rathore was shunted out following Armstrong’s murder.
“The recent incidents have created a perception that law and order is majorly affected and we believe these transfers will effect some necessary changes,” a senior government official said on condition of anonymity.
The government also transferred a number of other senior officials, including Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner Dr J Radhakrishnan and posted him as Additional Chief Secretary, Cooperation, Food and Consumer Protection Department, vice Dr K Gopal.
Senior IAS officer Kumar Jayant has been transferred and posted as Additional Chief Secretary to Government, Information Technology and Digital Services Department, according to a Public (Special A) Department order.
J Kumaragurubaran, Secretary, School Education Department, succeeds Radhakrishnan in the city civic body.
Similarly, many district collectors were also transferred.