HYDERABAD: A Santi Kumari, a 1989 batch IAS officer, has become the first woman Chief Secretary of Telangana. After the DoPT relieved the present Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar from Telangana Cadre, the State government on Wednesday appointed Santi Kumari as the sixth Chief Secretary of the state with tenure upto April 2025.
Santi hails from Andhra Pradesh and is currently the special chief secretary (Forest). She earlier worked in the Medical and Health Department during the Covid-19 pandemic period. Prior to that, she was in charge of the Chasing Cell in the Chief Minister's Office, which is intended to attract investments to the state.
She also worked as the district Collector of Adilabad, Commissioner of BC Welfare and held several other posts in the combined state of Andhra Pradesh.
The outgoing Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar is expected to report to the AP government on Thursday. Though, Somesh was allocated during the bifurcation of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. He challenged his allotment in CAT, which allotted him to the Telangana cadre.
However, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) challenged the CAT order in Telangana High Court. The High Court on Tuesday set aside the orders of CAT. Hours after the HC order, the DoPT issued orders and relieved Somesh Kumar from the Telangana cadre and directed him to report to the AP government by January 12.