Santhi Kumari new Chief Secretary of Telangana, first woman to hold post

Hyderabad, Jan 11:  Senior IAS officer A. Santhi Kumari was on Wednesday appointed the Chief Secretary of Telangana, a day after the Union Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) sent incumbent Somesh Kumar to Andhra Pradesh following the Telangana High Court order.

An Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of 1989 batch, Santhi Kumari took charge immediately after she was appointed - the first woman to Chief Secretary of Telangana. After taking charge, she called on Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and thanked him for entrusting her with the key responsibility.

She was holding the post of Special Chief Secretary, Forest, prior to her appointment as Chief Secretary.

A post-graduate in marine biology, she pursued MBA in the United States and also worked in the United Nations programmes for two years. During three decades of her service, she served in various positions in the departments of Education, Health, Poverty Alleviation, Skill Development, and Forests.

Santhi Kumari's appointment came a day after the DoPT relieved Somesh Kumar from the Telangana government, following the Telangana High Court setting aside the order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), allocating the officer to Telangana in 2016.

The DoPT asked Somesh Kumar to join the Andhra Pradesh government latest by January 12.

CAT's Hyderabad bench had passed an order on March 29, 2016 allotting Somesh Kumar to Telangana.

Following bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh into two separate states of 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.

In this process, Somesh Kumar, an IAS officer from the 1989 batch, was allotted to Andhra Pradesh by the DoPT.

However, Somesh Kumar had moved the CAT and secured an order staying his allotment to the Andhra Pradesh cadre. Since then, he continued in Telangana and became Chief Secretary in 2019.

The DoPT had filed an appeal in the High Court challenging the stay order of CAT, Hyderabad branch.