In a significant administrative reshuffle, the Tamil Nadu government on Monday, June 23, transferred and appointed 55 IAS officers across various departments and districts, according to an order issued by Chief Secretary N Muruganandam.
P Sankar, previously Managing Director of the Tamil Nadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation, has been appointed as Secretary of the Higher Education Department. He replaces C Samayamoorthy, who will now serve as Secretary of the Human Resources Management Department. Samayamoorthy previously held the Higher Education portfolio.
G Prakash, earlier Principal Secretary in the Human Resources Management Department, has been appointed as Member Secretary of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA). Meanwhile, Rajendra Ratnoo, returning from Central deputation, will serve as Principal Secretary of the Chennai Rivers Restoration Trust (CRRT).
At the district level, new Collectors have been appointed for nine districts. KJ Praveen Kumar takes charge as Madurai Collector, V. Saravanan in Tiruchi, Narnaware Manish Shankarrao in Tiruppur, D Sneha in Chengalpattu, and S Arunraj in Perambalur. NO Sukhaputra will serve as Collector of Virudhunagar, S Kandasamy in Erode, Durga Murthy in Namakkal, and K. Porkodi in Sivaganga.
Municipal leadership has also seen major changes. MP Amith has been appointed as Commissioner of the Tiruppur Corporation, Monica Rana in Tirunelveli, V Madhubalan in Tiruchi, Banoth Mrugender Lal in Thoothukudi, Nishant Krishna in Hosur, and Arpit Jain in Erode.
Among other senior appointments, Alby John Varghese has been moved from his role as MD of Tamil Nadu Power Generation and Distribution Corporation (TNPGCL) to become Director/CEO of the Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency. M Govinda Rao will take over Varghese’s former position at TNPGCL.
P Madhusudhan Reddy, previously Director of Survey and Settlement, has been appointed as Director of Municipal Administration. His former role will now be held by Raja Gopal Sunkara, who was the Erode Collector.
At the Secretariat level, S Nagarajan has been appointed as Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, effective after the superannuation of D Jagannathan on June 30. Shilpa Prabhakar Satish has been appointed as Secretary of the Commercial Taxes and Registration Department.
Several other key appointments were also announced. MS Sangeetha has been made Director of Social Welfare, M Pradeep Kumar is the new Director of Town Panchayats, and T Christuraj will serve as both Director of Tourism and Managing Director of the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation. Asha Ajith will head the Tamil Nadu Rural Transformation Project and Women Employment Safety Project.
The reshuffle also covered Special and Joint Secretary posts. N Venkatesh has been appointed in the Finance Department, R Lilly in Transport, S Ganesh in Municipal Administration, and KM Sarayu in Housing and Urban Development.
In women-centric and developmental roles, RV Shajeevana has been appointed Managing Director of the Tamil Nadu Women Development Corporation, while Durai Ravichandran will lead the Watershed Development Agency.
Further, four officers — RA Priyanka, Pallavi Verma, Abhilasha Kaur, and Divyanshu Nigam — have been appointed as Additional Collectors (Development) for the districts of Cuddalore, Tiruvarur, Nilgiris, and Ramanathapuram, respectively.