The Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday transferred Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) Executive Officer Anil Kumar. He has been posted as the Principal Secretary of Health, Medical Welfare and Family Welfare department with immediate effect, as per a Government Order (GO). TTD Additional Executive Officer AV Dharma Reddy was given full additional charge of the post until further orders.
Anil Kumar Singhal is a 1993-batch IAS officer who was posted as the TTD EO by the previous Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government. Singhal took over the administration of TTD on May 1, 2017. Though he was appointed as the EO for a two-year term and his term ended in May 2019, he was given an extension by the YSRCP government.
Singhal was the 25th TTD EO. He had previously worked as the Resident Commissioner in Andhra Pradesh Bhavan in New Delhi before he was brought to the TTD by former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
His appointment as the EO had created an uproar, as he was the first IAS officer from north India to be given the post. Singhal’s tenure saw many controversies including the alleged missing jewels of Lord Venkateswara and the removal of chief priest AV Ramana Deekshitulu.
A silver crown weighing 5.4 kg, two gold rings and two gold necklaces of Lord Venkateswara were found to be ‘missing’ during an audit in 2017. They were valued at Rs 6.50 lakh. The alleged theft came to light in 2019 when the audit documents were made public, creating a furore in the state.
Former chief priest of Tirumala AV Deekshitulu who had alleged irregularities and corruption in the TTD when the jewels were allegedly missing, was removed from his post unceremoniously under Singhal’s tenure. However, he continued to manage the affairs of the TTD for the past three years.