With the extended term of senior IAS officer and Chief Secretary K. Shanmugam set to end this month, the Tamil Nadu government has requested the Centre to extend his services for yet another term, and is awaiting a reply from Delhi in this regard.
Multiple sources told The Hindu that a file seeking another three months’ extension for Mr. Shanmugam had been sent to the Centre and its reply was being awaited.
“Even if not three months, the Chief Secretary would get an extension till December this year,” an officer said.
Since the Centre has accepted the requests of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat , it is most likely to accept the request of Tamil Nadu too.
As the election is only a few months away, if a new Chief Secretary assumes charge after January, it would take time for him/her to get a hold of things in the CS office, officials pointed out. Mr. Shanmugam, who was originally set to retire in July was given a three-month extension, considering the extraordinary situation in the State due to COVID-19.
The 1985-batch IAS officer assumed charge on June 30, 2019. He was set to retire in July this year initially. Following a request from the Tamil Nadu government, the Union Department of Personnel & Training had in June extended the services of the officer till October 31 this year.
