A day after the bureaucracy in Tamil Nadu was woken up with the rude shock of I-T raids at the houses of Tamil Nadu government’s Chief Secretary Rama Mohana Rao and his relatives, Girija Vaidyanathan has been appointed as the new Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu.
An official press release stated, "Dr Girija Vaidyanathan, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary/ Commissioner of Land Administration is transferred and posted as Chief Secretary to Government vice Dr P Rama Mohana Rao, IAS." The appointment order added that she will also hold the additional charge of the post of Vigilance Commissioner and Commissioner for Administrative reforms, posts held earlier by Rao.
There has been some speculation that Rao is facing suspension, but no such official decision has been taken just yet. Rao will remain in service, but without a posting.
Income Tax (IT) officials on Thursday ended their raid at the houses Rama Mohana Rao and his relatives. The raids began on Wednesday morning and continued all night.
According to reports, the residence of his son Vivek in Chennai, and his in-laws’ house in Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh were also raided. On Wednesday, searches were also conducted in Rao's office in the state secretariat.
Rs 30 lakh in new Rs 2,000 notes, five kilograms of gold and documents with details of undisclosed assets worth about Rs 5 crore were recovered during the raids carried out at 11 places, according to tax officials.
Girija is an officer belonging to the 1981 batch of Indian Administrative Service. She has two-and-a-half years to go for her retirement. She was until today the Commissioner of Land Administration and earlier held the post of Health Secretary between 2011 and 2012.
