AP govt shunts out chief secy as row with other officials turns acrimonious

The spat, which was about procedural issues related to the movement of files, turned public

The Andhra Pradesh government today removed its chief secretary after an internal fight between him and an other senior official over procedural issues related to the movement of official files turned into a public spat.

The General Administration Department (GAD) issued the orders for transferring chief secretary L V Subrahmanyam with immediate effect. He has been given a new posting as Director General of the AP Human Resources Development Institute.

A 1983 batch IAS officer, Subrahmanyam was appointed as the chief secretary of the AP government just before the state assembly elections in April, 2019 and continued in the position for the past six months.

The government's abrupt decision to shunt him out came within days after Subrahmanyam issued a memo to GAD principal secretary Praveen Prakash asking for an explanation for allegedly flouting business rules and conduct rules while processing official files.

Incidentally, the orders on transfer of chief secretary were issued by Praveen Prakash, who heads the department that handles the transfers and postings of services officers across the country.