Vijayawada: In an unusual move, the government issued a common GO on Monday, appointing Ajeya Kallam, an IAS of the 1983 batch, as Chief Secretary for one month, from March 1 to 31, 2017.
Unusually, in the same order, GO RT No. 456, the government appointed Dinesh Kumar, also a 1983 batch officer, as Chief Secretary from April 1, when Mr Kallam retires. Incumbent Chief Secretary S.P. Tucker will complete his tenure on February 28.
The state government had tried to persuade the Centre to give a six-month extension of tenure to Mr Kallam, but the Department of Personnel and Training turned it down.
According to sources, the DoPT said that it was not a good practice to make an officer with just one month of service left as the Chief Secretary. After failing to convince the Centre, the government exercised its discretionary power and ordered the appointment of Mr Kallam for a month.
It is learnt that Mr Kallam was reluctant to head the bureaucracy for just a month, but the government persuaded him to take charge. There was criticism earlier that Mr Kallam was being posted to appease the Reddy community.
Mr Kallam has handled many important assignments, both at the Centre and the state. He was collector at Nalgonda, Khammam, West Godavari and Visakhapatnam districts. He served as director of horticulture, commissioner of agriculture, commissioner of endowments, executive officer of the TTD, and as Visakhapatnam Port Trust chairman. He worked in the Chief Minister's Office in the N. Kiran Kumar Reddy government.
There was earlier a discussion on appointing either Mr Kallam or Mr Anil Chandra Punetha, who will retire on May 31, 2018, to succeed Mr Tucker. It went ahead with Mr Kallam, to be succeeded by his batchmate, Mr Dinesh Kumar.
