Senior IRS Officer Venkaiah Chowdary Named TTD Additional EO

Tirupati: The state government has appointed Chirumamilla Venkaiah Chowdary, a senior Indian Revenue Service officer, as the new additional executive officer of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams.

Chief secretary Neerabh Prasad issued the order on Wednesday saying Chowdary, a 2005 batch IRS officer, has been admitted into the state service from July 22. His services have been placed at the disposal of the revenue (endowments) department “for his appointment as TTD's additional EO for Tirumala.”

The order states that Chowdary will discharge the functions of the joint executive officer at Tirumala.

This appointment comes after the previous additional executive officer AV Dharma Reddy remained in the position until June end, following the exit of the YSRC government last month.

While Chowdary's name had reportedly been cleared earlier for the position, there was a slight delay in the file processing related to his deputation from the Centre to the AP government and subsequently to the TTD.

The appointments committee of the central cabinet approved Venkaiah Chowdary's deputation to AP on June 16. Notably, the Centre made an exception to its usual policy to facilitate this three-year deputation, based on a special request from the AP government.

Sources in the government said Chowdary, formerly the vice chairman and managing director of the AP Mineral Development Corporation, was handpicked by chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu to handle pilgrim services in Tirumala.

Naidu, after taking over as CM this time, had expressed concern over the conditions in Tirumala and said the clean-up of the state would start there.

About a month ago, senior IAS officer Syamala Rao was appointed as the executive officer of TTD. Chowdary is expected to take charge in a couple of days.