Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Sep 28: Dashing the hopes of current additional chief secretary of the state, Ratnaprabha, the chief minister (CM), Siddaramaiah, on Tuesday September 27, signed the file relating to the appointment of IAS officer, Subhash Chandra Khuntia as the new chief secretary of the state. He will take over from Arvind Jadhav who is retiring on superannuation at the end of this month.
Sources in the office of the CM said that official orders are expected to be issued in this connection by Friday. Services of Khuntia, a Karnataka cadre IAS officer, had been lent to the central government. He has been released by the centre at the request of the state.
It is said that a large section of IAS officers in the state had lobbied hard in favour of Khuntia, to the detriment of Ratnaprabha. Ratnaprabha, whose name had figured even during the process of selecting the current chief secretary, again lost a chance to become one, although a faction of IAS officers strongly stood by her side. Sources claim that professional rivalry between current chief secretary, Arvind Jadhav and Ratnaprabha too worked against her.