Retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Somesh Kumar who served as Former Telangana Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar assumed office as a Chief Advisor to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Friday, May 12. The state government issued a government order (GO) to this effect on Tuesday, May 9. According to the Government Order issued by Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari, Somesh Kumar will hold the office in the rank of a Cabinet minister for a period of three years.
The former chief secretary assumed the chair in his office on the sixth floor of the new state Secretariat amid traditional rituals performed by priests in his chamber. Later, officials and staff of the secretariat greeted Kumar on assuming office. The Chief Advisor expressed his gratitude to Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for once again bestowing faith and giving him an opportunity to serve the state.
Somesh Kumar, who had served as Chief Secretary of Telangana for three years, is considered very close to Chief Minister KCR.
Somesh Kumar was appointed as the Chief Secretary of Telangana in December 2019. However, he was directed to step down in January this year after the Telangana High Court issued an order directing him to report to Andhra Pradesh. The High Court had allowed a writ petition filed by the Union government’s Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), challenging a Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) order allotting Somesh Kumar to Telangana after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh on March 29, 2016 allotting Somesh Kumar to Telangana.
On January 12 this year the Telangana High Court had set aside the order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), allocating Somesh Kumar to Telangana in 2016.The same day the Department for Personnel Training (DoPT) of the government of India relieved him from the state government of Telangana and directed to join the Andhra Pradesh government within two days.
Following bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh into Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in 2014, the Union government had re-allotted IAS and IPS officers working in the undivided state to the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh and the newly created Telangana state.
Somesh Kumar, an IAS officer from the 1989 batch in Bihar, was allotted to Andhra Pradesh by the DoPT. However, Somesh Kumar had moved the CAT and secured an order staying his allotment t o Andhra Pradesh cadre. Since then he continued in Telangana and became Chief Secretary in 2019. DoPT had filed an appeal in the High Court challenging the stay order of CAT, Hyderabad branch.