In another 10 days, Andhra Pradesh chief secretary Adityanath Das will retire from his service on attaining the age of superannuation and there is a talk that he might get the extension of service for at least three months.
If Das has to get the extension, the Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India, has to give approval for the same.
He can get the extension of service for a maximum period of six months.
Though Das is going to lay down his office on June 30, there are no indications from the government as to whether chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had written any letter to the Centre seeking extension of term of the chief secretary.
In case of former chief secretary Neelam Sawhney, the chief minister had got her extension of term twice – each time for a period of three months.
In both the instances, Jagan wrote to the Centre well in advance seeking extension of her tenure.
In case of Das, there are no such indications. But there is a talk that Jagan had submitted the proposal to the Centre during his recent visit to New Delhi.
If that is true, there is a possibility of Das getting the extension.
Apparently knowing that Jagan had made such a request, Telugu Desam Party’s Rajya Sabha member Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar wrote a letter to DoPT secretary on Friday opposing the proposal to extend the service of Das.
The TDP MP pointed out that Das was a co-accused in Jagan’s quid pro quo cases being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in granting favours to India Cements, another co-accused in the same case.
“Any extension of service of Das would set a wrong precedent in the administration,” he said.
There is also a talk that Jagan might not have sought the extension of the service of Das, as he is planning to make another senior officer Y Sri Lakshmi as the chief secretary.
That was precisely why the chief minister had recently promoted her as the special chief secretary, sources said.