Chaos among babus over new chief secy

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With a new entrant to the list of aspiring chief secretaries, the state is all set to play musical chairs with the top bureaucrat’s office in the coming months. Indications are that at least three chief secretaries will lead the state’s administration in the next one year.
The sudden decision of the state to seek the services of senior bureaucrat and Union shipping secretary K Mohandas as chief secretary (CS) has created a confusion among bureaucrats.Mohandas, a 1974-batch officer, is due to retire in February 2012. If the Centre clears the state’s application, Mohandas may join as the CS by mid-January 2012. That means, he will be in office for just six weeks. The incumbent chief secretary P Prabhakaran, who is due to retire only in March, will be shunted out to another post for making room for Mohandas, who is the son-in-law of Kerala Congress (B) supremo R Balakrishna Pillai. Pillai and his son minister K B Ganesh Kumar are learnt to have exerted immense pressure on the UDF leadership and the chief minister to bring Mohadas as the CS. Mohandas has been in central deputation since 2005.
According to sources, incumbent chief secretary P Prabhakaran will be appointed as advisor to the infrastructure projects of the state. He may even get a two-year term in the new office so that even after the retirement date in March, Prabhakaran can continue in service.
Once Mohandas retires on February 28, 2012, additional chief secretary (home) K Jayakumar will be the natural choice for the chief secretary. He has service till October 2012. It is learnt that there are chances for Mohandas getting extension for three to six months. In that case, Jayakumar will be compensated with the post of vice-chancellor of the proposed Malayalam University as a post-retirement assignment.
Meanwhile, it has been learnt that the government has zeroed in on another senior officer V Somasundaran who is on central deputation for the post of additional chief secretary (industries) which has not been filled after the retirement of T Balakrishnan, who was appointed managing director of INKEL (Infrastructure Kerala Limited) post his retirement from the service.
Somasundaran, a 1979-batch officer is currently additional secretary in the defence ministry. Though his deputation period lasts up to November 2012, it has been learnt that he would come back to the state cadre soon, and he is next in line to be elevated to the post of chief secretary after K Jayakumar.
Even though there are two other officers in the 1979 batch, including present director general of civil aviation E K Bharatbhooshan and additional secretary at the Union ministry of health and family welfare L C Goyal, sources say that Somasundaran has an edge over others for the chief secretary’s post, who can serve close to three years on the post.