Hyderabad: Over two months into the new Andhra Pradesh government under N. Chandrababu Naidu, as many as 11 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and 23 Indian Police Service (IPS) officers are still waiting for their postings.
Several of these All India Service (AIS) officers are perceived to be close to former chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, other senior YSRCP leaders, and as having allegedly functioned according to the previous regime’s diktats, regardless of rules, procedures, an analysis by ThePrint has found.
The delay in postings hinders Naidu’s self-proclaimed objective of bringing the administration onto the right track, analysts say.
CM Naidu, on various occasions over the past two months, has declared that the “rebuilding of the state, its finances, and bringing the derailed administration of the past five years back on track” are among the top priorities of his government.
I.Y.R. Krishna Rao, chief secretary of the state from 2014 to 2016, highlighted the “paradox of the vastly experienced CM keeping dozens of AIS officers on endless wait, thereby obstructing realisation of his own objectives”.
Naidu took over as chief minister after the Telugu Desam Party (TDP)-Jana Sena Party (JSP)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) together trounced Jagan’s YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in a landslide victory in the May assembly polls. The ruling side has a strength of 164 MLAs in the 175-member AP assembly, with YSRCP numbers reduced from 151 legislators to just 11. Naidu’s council of ministers took oath on 12 June, in a grand ceremony near Vijayawada that was also attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
These All India Service (AIS) officers, currently sitting at home, include babus from the level of district collectors to special chief secretaries at the top and Superintendent of Police (SP) in districts to Director General (DG) rank police officers.
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Accused of partisan conduct
Many of those attached to the General Administration Department and DGP offices were seen as having held positions of power over the last five years and enjoyed the ruling YSRCP’s patronage. On the day he assumed chambers at the secretariat, Naidu, in an interaction with babus, accused some of them of partisan conduct, and unfairly targeting TDP leaders, including him.
In September last year, Naidu, then the opposition leader, was arrested by the Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department (CID) in an alleged Rs 371 crore skill development project scam under his government in 2014-19. He was jailed for over 50 days.
Waiting for posting since 8 June — four days after the assembly poll results that ousted Jagan — is N. Sanjay (IPS 1996 batch), an Additional DG ranked officer who was appointed the head of the state’s CID in January 2023.
Sanjay had raised eyebrows when, few days after the arrest, he held a press conference in New Delhi with Andhra Pradesh additional advocate general Ponnavolu Sudhakar Reddy to counter TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh’s accusations of political vendetta. This was at the same time when Naidu’s son, Nara Lokesh, was camping in the national capital to shore up support for his imprisoned father.
P.V. Sunil Kumar (IPS 1993 batch), who was the CID chief before Sanjay, has also been waiting for a post since 21 June. Under him, the state CID probed some sensational cases like the alleged insider trading of lands at Amaravati. Naming Naidu and the municipal administration and urban development (MAUD) minister in his previous government, P. Narayana, as accused in the case, the CID, under Kumar had served notices to the two leaders in March 2021, asking for them to appear for questioning at the CID office at Vijayawada.
The notice, which gave them one week, said that Naidu was liable for arrest under Section 41 A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) for failure to attend/comply with the terms of the notice.
In January 2021, Kumar, was also given the charge of the investigation into incidents of desecration by miscreants at several Hindu temples in Andhra Pradesh after Jagan came to power, including Ramatheertham Temple in Vizianagaram district where a Rama idol was vandalised in December 2020. Alleging that he is converted Christian, Hindutva proponents had expressed doubts “of a fair investigation into temple vandalism incidents by a Hindu basher”. The Opposition questioned the inconclusive probe in several cases, with JSP chief Pawan Kalyan alleging government inaction against the real culprits.
In January 2023, Kumar was moved out from CID and promoted to the DGP rank. In a post on X, Kumar described his full three-year tenure at CID as “a wonderful, eventful and memorable journey”.
“Thanks to the Honourable Chief Minister (Jagan) for giving me this opportunity and full support in delivering my duty,” Kumar had said at the time.
The TDP has accused Jagan of using the Andhra Pradesh police, especially the CID, as a weapon to go after his political opponents. For instance, in May 2021, K. Raghu Ramakrishna Raju, then a YSRCP rebel MP, was arrested by the AP police from Hyderabad, on charges of sedition for allegedly making derogatory remarks on CM Jagan.
Based on a complaint of Raju, now a TDP MLA, AP’s Guntur Police registered a case last month against former chief minister Jagan, Kumar, and senior IPS officer P. Sitharama Anjaneyulu on charges of criminal conspiracy, attempt to murder, and criminal intimidation.
Sitharama Anjaneyulu (IPS 1992 batch), the AP intelligence chief under Jagan, is the senior-most IPS officer awaiting posting now.
Previously posted as an Inspector General in the Border Security Force (BSF) under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Anjaneyulu returned to the state after Jagan took charge in June 2019. He served as transport commissioner, secretary to the AP Public Service Commission, and DG of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), under the YSRCP government before being made the intel chief two years before the polls.
Anjaneyulu and Vijayawada commissioner Kanthi Rana Tata (IPS 2004 batch) were relieved from their posts on the orders of the Election Commission of India (ECI) after stone pelting at Jagan in Vijayawada during the poll campaign and TDP complaints against them. Both IPS officers have not been given any post since 24 April.
As on Thursday, the state’s IPS civil list website showed that a total of 23 officers were awaiting postings. Dr Kolli Raghuram Reddy (IPS 2006 batch), another IPS, seen as “eyes and ears of Jagan” is also in waiting since 8 June. In central service during Naidu’s term, Kolli functioned in intelligence as SP and Deputy Inspector General (DIG) under Jagan.
Pala Raju, Vijaya Rao, K.K.N. Anburajan (who served as SP in Kadapa, Jagan’s home district), Rishanth Reddy (who served as SP in Chittoor, home-turf of YSRCP heavyweight Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy) are among the other IPS officers on the waitlist. TDP leaders have alleged that some of these officers have operated as henchmen for Jagan and the YSRCP.
ThePrint reached Tirumala Rao, AP DGP, via calls for a response on about two dozen IPS officers kept waiting for posting. The report will be updated if and when a response is received.
In a memo issued Monday, a copy of which has been accessed by ThePrint, Tirumala Rao instructed 16 IPS officers waiting for posting including the seniors, to attend the DGP office at Mangalagiri regularly at 10 am, sign in the attendance register in the morning and after office hours without fail. And be readily available to attend to any urgent work assigned by the DGP.
Speaking to ThePrint, a senior IPS officer awaiting posting, said their “situation of being forced into a corner” was embarrassing and unfair. “As civil servants, we go by the book. I have not done anything wrong, nor has CM Jagan ever asked me to do anything wrong,” the officer told ThePrint
Vexed by unending wait and amid qualms over the treatment he might receive under the TDP-led government, one high-profile IPS officer reportedly even tried for the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS).
11 IAS officers on waitlist
Meanwhile, the AP IAS civil list website Thursday showed 11 IAS officers are waiting for a posting, including Yerra Srilakshmi and Rajat Bhargava, the senior most bureaucrats of special chief secretary rank in the state, after Neerabh Kumar Prasad (IAS 1987 batch), the present chief secretary.
Srilakshmi (IAS 1988 batch) is a prominent name in AP bureaucratic, political circles. She is one of the IAS officers accused in case of Jagan’s disproportionate assets allegedly accumulated through quid pro quo favours when Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy was the chief minister of combined Andhra Pradesh.
The CBI in its chargesheet had accused Srilakshmi, as secretary, industries and commerce, between 2007 and 2009, of misusing her office to grant mining leases to firms of former Karnataka minister G. Janardhana Reddy and others. She was arrested in November 2011 and was lodged in a Hyderabad jail till October 2012. However, Srilakshmi was later acquitted in the case by Telangana High Court which quashed the charges against her.
In December 2020, Jagan appointed her as the secretary, MAUD. She later served as principal secretary, and special chief secretary in the same department.
TDP leaders allege Srilakshmi of aiding Jagan destroy the Amaravati capital project over the last five years. Reports claimed that Narayana, who again took charge as MAUD minister in June, snubbed Srilakshmi when she took a file to him to sign, saying “What’s the hurry?”
She was the special chief secretary, MAUD, till 20 June when Naidu sent her into the waiting room, too. Srilakshmi is also accused of using public funds to build a memorial park in her father’s name at Machilipatnam.
Rajat Bhargava (IAS 1990 batch) has also been waiting since 20 June. During Jagan’s tenure, Bhargava held key positions in the industries and commerce, revenue, and excise departments which are under Naidu’s scrutiny for various alleged misdeeds, and mismanagement.
Another special chief secretary, Gopal Krishna Dwivedi (IAS 1993 batch) has been waiting since 26 June. During the 2019 polls, Dwivedi was the CEO of the ECI in AP when then CM Naidu famously barged into his office to express ire over the conduct of polls at the time. Then at loggerheads with the BJP, the TDP chief accused the ECI of acting at the behest of YSRCP under BJP guidance.
In June 2019 Jagan gave Dwivedi charge of Panchayati Raj and Rural Development and it was under Dwivedi that the gram panchayat buildings across the state were painted in the YSRCP’s colours of blue, green and white — a controversial matter that went to the courts.
The mercurial Praveen Prakash, (IAS 1994 batch), who was calling the shots in Jagan’s government as principal secretary (general administration department and chief minister’s office) is also on the waitlist.
Nevertheless, the Naidu administration accepted Prakash’s VRS request with effect from 30 September. In November 2019, then-chief secretary L.V. Subramanyam served a show-cause notice to Prakash for “misconduct and insubordination” and violation of business rules. However, in a contentious development soon after, Prakash, heading GAD (Political), signed the relieving orders and transferred Subramanyam to AP HRD institute.
While the CS shift resulted from Subramanyam’s fall out with Jagan, Prakash, too, was purportedly sidelined by the CM in February 2022 and was sent back to AP Bhavan, New Delhi.
According to sources, D. Muralidhar Reddy (IAS 2006 batch), who served as vice-chairman and managing director of the Andhra Pradesh Medical Services and Infrastructure Development Corporation (APMSIDC); Mutyalaraju Revu (IAS 2007 batch) a principal secretary in general administration (political) and secretary in Jagan’s CMO; Dr Narayana Bharath Gupta (IAS 2010 batch), who served as the director, Commissionerate of Gram/Ward Volunteers and Village/Ward Secretariats, and later joint and additional secretary to CM are among the IAS officers ordered to report to GAD soon after the ruling alliance came to power.
Order a probe instead, say officers
Speaking to ThePrint, a senior officer who is on the waitlist said that if the current government suspects some misdeeds on their part, it should initiate a probe. “What is the point of keeping us aside like pariahs?” the officer asked.
I.Y.R. Krishna Rao, who served as Naidu’s chief secretary from 2014 to 2016, agreed.
“For what purpose is this wait especially for such a large number of highly qualified officers? If there was any misconduct or misdemeanour, a probe should be ordered, charges framed and action taken against those officers. If you still don’t like some, send them to some non-focal, budget-wise non-prominent posts.
“But this endless wait is wrong, a waste of resources as the officers, following government orders and reporting to GAD, DGP offices, get their salaries etc without doing any work. A CM like Naidu who constantly is worried over the state of AP finances should not act in such a spiteful manner,” Rao said.
L.V. Subrahmanyam, who was Jagan’s first CS, said, “hypothetically, an officer can be kept waiting endlessly, even all the five years of present term, if the regime chooses to. Of course, an aggrieved officer can approach the Central Administrative Tribunal and courts.”
IPS officer A.B. Venkateswara Rao, the intelligence chief during previous Naidu tenure, faced the dreaded situation, suspended twice by Jagan’s government. Rao approached the CAT which revoked the suspension and ordered the state to reinstate him. He could finally take charge as commissioner, printing and stationery, on the day of his superannuation, 31 May, when Jagan was still in power.
A retired bureaucrat said dropping officers he dislikes is the four-term CM’s old trait. “The list is large now but during his first term in united AP in the 1990s too, Naidu used to do the same thing. News reports used to appear in TDP-favoured papers casting aspersions on the poor officers, while he took time to decide a role for the waitlisted.”
“There used to be a joke, actually a good suggestion, that a room at the secretariat should be arranged with carroms, billiards etc facilities for such in-wait officers, which they can visit daily instead of sitting at home. And in case of emergency, in a situation like cyclones they could be dispatched to the location immediately,” the retired IAS said.
Subrahmanyam said the number of AIS officers without posting is unusual this time. “Considering the hopeless way some of them operated the last few years, Naidu, I learnt, is keen on teaching them a lesson on bureaucratic basics. Those who came under a cloud are likely to face a department probe.”
A senior official in the GAD (Political) responsible for IAS etc postings and transfers refused to comment “on a large number of waitlisted officers”.
ThePrint also reached Neerabh Prasad, Chief Secretary, via calls and WhatsApp messages. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)