From Kumbh to Covid, this gold-medallist para-shuttler is Yogi’s go-to IAS officer

Suhas L. Yathiraj, an IAS officer of the 2007 batch, has been a trusted civil servant for governments across party lines.

IAS officer Suhas L. Yathiraj | Facebook

New Delhi: Suhas L. Yathiraj, an IAS officer of the 2007 batch, was on a break from government service when he was summoned by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to take charge of Noida, a Covid hotspot, as its new district magistrate (DM) on 30 March. 

With the city on edge, and the chief minister seething over the alleged mismanagement by the former DM, Yathiraj knew he had no time to waste. 

An international-level para-shuttler, the 36-year-old IAS officer arrived in Noida within hours of Adityanath’s order. On his first day as DM, he ordered the sealing of a company where 16 employees had tested positive for Covid-19, and lodged an FIR against its management for hiding the travel history of its staff. 

Within days, Suhas had set up 300 surveillance teams — comprising 900 officials — in Noida, sealed all the containment spots, preventing movement even for essential items, and blocked the Delhi-Noida border completely. 

For the establishment in Noida, the message was clear — it cannot be business as usual. 

ThePrint approached Yathiraj through calls and WhatsApp messages but he did not respond to requests for comment. However, people close to him described him as a no-nonsense officer whose dedication had earned him the faith of governments across party lines.

Sternness – a professional trait from the start

While Yathiraj’s sternness has become conspicuous given the mammoth crisis at hand, it is a trait he has been known to have since the beginning of his career as a civil servant. 

“From the beginning, he was known to be someone who means business and does not want to waste any time,” says Gangadhar Patil, one of Yathiraj’s closest friends.

“I remember this one time, during his first posting in Agra, some people came to his office for permission to hold a religious rally… He calmly asked them to take a few permissions,” Patil, who happened to be with Yathiraj at the time, recalled.

“But they started screaming… So, Suhas yelled back, saying ‘I can scream too, but that will not serve any purpose’, and got back to talking calmly.” 

Patil said the change in demeanour caught him off-guard. 

“It was surprising… how the soft-spoken, Rajinikanth fan had transformed so quickly into a no-nonsense officer,” he added. 

Patil, however, said Yathiraj was often mistaken for being rough.

“The fact that he comes from Karnataka added to this persona… People instantly thought he will not be corrupt, and because he was just beginning to learn the UP way of talking in Hindi, people invariably thought he was being rough, which was not always the case.”

The son of a public servant, Yathiraj was raised in the Shimoga district of Karnataka. After school, he pursued engineering at the National Institute of Technology Karnataka. He subsequently landed a job with a private company in Bengaluru, which he juggled with IAS preparations for a year. 

Three years into service, Yathiraj married a provincial service officer from UP, Ritu Suhas.

Identified as ‘doer’ by both Akhilesh & Yogi govts

Through his 13-year career, Yathiraj has had several significant postings in cities like Azamgarh, Sonbhadra, Jaunpur, Allahabad and now, Gautam Buddh Nagar, the district in which Noida falls. 

“In the beginning of his career, he faced some trouble — he was transferred rather frequently,” said an IAS officer from UP who knows Yathiraj well. “But since then, he has been identified as a doer by subsequent governments.” 

In 2016, when he was the DM of Azamgarh, Yathiraj was given the lucrative Yash Bharti award — the highest civilian honour in the state — by the erstwhile Akhilesh Yadav government. 

At the same time, Azamgarh, then the constituency of Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, was awarded by the Modi government for being the top performer in the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana — a pet scheme of PM Narendra Modi meant to bring the economically backward on the banking map. Yathiraj was credited with opening 8 lakh accounts under the scheme. 

In 2017, with a change of government in the state, Yathiraj continued to secure plum postings. “He became the blue-eyed boy of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath very early on,” said the IAS officer quoted above. 

In 2019, when the Yogi government prepared for the multi-crore Kumbh mela, for which millions descended on Allahabad, it was Yathiraj who was the DM of the holy city. 

For the first time ever, Yathiraj organised a meeting of the Uttar Pradesh cabinet on the banks of the Sangam at the Kumbh mela, after which all ministers of the cabinet took a holy dip in the Sangam waters. 

“It is no coincidence that he was brought in to Noida at such a sensitive time by the CM,” the IAS officer said. “Even during the Kumbh, the fact that he was there at a time of an event that was so dear to the government meant that he is greatly valued.”

A rare sportsman-cum-civil servant 

While he is hailed as an effective administrator across the political spectrum, there is yet another facet to Yathiraj’s personality that sets him apart from his IAS counterparts — he is an international-level para-Badminton player. 

In 2018, Suhas, who suffers from post-polio residual paralysis in his right leg, won the bronze medal at the Asian Para Games in Jakarta, Indonesia. He also won the gold medal in men’s singles and doubles at the BWF Turkish Open Para-Badminton Championships in Turkey in 2017, and yet another gold in men’s singles at the 2016 Asia Championship in Beijing, China — all while serving as district magistrate in several key districts of UP. 

“If there is one thing Suhas knows how to do is balance things effectively… He didn’t leave his job while preparing for the civil services exam, and cleared it in the first go,” said Patil. “That is how he balances sport with his administrative duties as well.”