New Delhi (15.04.2025): The Pinarayi Vijayan government is expected to announce the 50th Chief Secretary (CS) of the state where elections are due exactly after a year. The decision may be taken in the Cabinet meeting scheduled for April 23, 2025, just a week ahead of the retirement of incumbent Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan (IAS: 1990: KL), who recently hit social media and handled the "dark controversy" articulately.
It is believed that in a poll-bound state, the “right choice” means an officer having a propensity to deliver by remaining politically correct. It is understood that two key factors (seniority and outsider) may also come to play in determining the name of the next CS by the Vijayan administration.
Capture the imagination first:
Two senior-most officers seem to be in the reckoning for the coveted post of Kerala CS who are at present serving at Centre -- Manoj Joshi (1989) and Rachna Shah (1991). They are serving as Union secretaries holding key portfolios like Land Resources and DoP&T, respectively. Out of these two officers, only Joshi is seen to have the chance to make the cut for the 50th CS in the prevailing scenario for being competent and a no-nonsense officer. Prior to becoming Housing & Urban Affairs Secretary in Govt of India, Vijayan entrusted him with the key portfolio of finance as Additional Chief Secretary. In a poll-bound state, an outsider often suits the political establishment as compared to the son of the soil. Indianmandarins has learnt that the DOPT has not received any proposal from the Govt of Kerala yet requesting the repatriation from Govt of India.
Officers currently in Cadre:
In case Joshi is unwilling to return to his cadre state or the Vijayan administration does not want an outsider ahead of elections, A Jayathilak (1991) will have an edge over others in terms of seniority. As ACS (Finance), Jayathilak has the govt’s confidence but that may not be enough. Jayathilak found himself into controversies after a junior IAS officer N Prasanth (2007) sent a legal notice including Muraleedharan but that might not mar his prospects. Jayathilak, a man behind promoting Kerala Tourism, is known for own style of handling things which may, or may not, cast a shadow on his prospects.
Will seniority prevail?
As the senior-most officer, the selection of Manoj Joshi may safeguard the govt from an unpleasant supersession of seniority as well. A section of insiders believes that Kerala is a place where, unlike other states, the position of CS does not matter much in governance. Many controversial officers were appointed the CS in the past. Further, it was only in 1982 when seniority was superseded while appointing a CS.
Further, choosing an officer as per his/her seniority may prevent any uncalled-for unease in the police administration too. The serving state DGP Sheikh Darvesh Sahib belongs to the 1990 batch while former BSF DG Nitin Agarwal (1989) is also in the cadre now.
A third scenario:
It may be underlined that currently, Kerala has no dearth of senior IAS officers serving as Additional Chief Secretary; a rank also seen as Chief Secretary in the waiting. Currently, there are six ACS rank officers — Dr A Jayathilak (1991), Bishwanath Sinha (1992), K R Jyothilal (1993), Puneet Kumar (1993), Davendra Kumar Dhodawat (1993) and Rajan N Khobragde (1993). Several IAS officers from junior batches serving at the Centre feel that irrespective of the adequate number of ACS rank officers, it is unlikely that the next CS would be appointed from 1993 batch till June 2026.
(Rakesh Ranjan)
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