EC orders transfer of Andhra Chief Secretary

The Election Commission Friday ordered the transfer of Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary Anil Chandra Punetha and posted IAS officer L V Subrahmanyam in his place, officials said.

The EC has asked the state government to effect the order by Saturday forenoon.

The poll panel's move comes in the backdrop of Andhra Pradesh government reportedly refusing to shift three IPS officers -- Director General of Police (Intelligence) A B Venkateswara Rao and two Superintendents of Police -- in violation of EC instructions.

The ECI directed that Punetha, scheduled to retire from service May-end, be posted to a 'non-election' position.

Punetha had filed a writ petition in the Andhra Pradesh High Court on March 27, challenging the EC order transferring DG (Intelligence) Rao.

In the petition, he contended that the EC did not have any "untrammelled powers" to interfere with the course of administration that is unconnected to polling.

''The EC cannot engage in unchecked, arbitrary and uncanalised exercise of power. The EC order suffers from the vice of lack of jurisdiction, suffers from being a colourable exercise of power and is based on alien purposes or oblique motives which have nothing to do with the conduct of polling duties," state Political Secretary (General Administration Department) N Srikant had said in the petition filed on behalf of the Chief Secretary.

The Chief Secretary, in fact, complied with the EC order Tuesday midnight and transferred the Intelligence DG, along with the two district SPs. But he cancelled the Intelligence chief's transfer order on Wednesday morning.

The High Court rejected the Chief Secretary's petition last Friday, forcing him to issue an order shifting the DG (intelligence).