S V Ranganath has served six CMs

He will replace Sudhakar Rao, who is reaching superannuation on Thursday.Ranganath, who has served six chief ministers directly, has wide administrative experience. He was Joint Secretary to Ramakrishna Hegde, Secretary to M Veerappa Moily and H D Deve Gowda, Principal Secretary to S M Krishna, N Dharam Singh and H D Kumaraswamy. Before being appointed the Chief Secretary, he was holding charge as a member (Finance), AEC and member (Finance) Space Commission.

He is a Bangalorean and holds a post-graduate degree in Chemistry. He will have one of the longest tenures as he is scheduled to retire in April 2013. The ruling BJP government has chosen Ranganath overlooking the seniority of eight others. While three -- Bhahm Dutt, Shantanu Consul and N Gokulram -- are in the Central service on deputation  five -- Neerja Rajkumar, Dilip Rau, Vatsala Watsa, A K M Nayak and A Ramaswamy -- are in the State service. Neerja and Rau are due for retirement next month.

The government also appointed Tara Ajai Singh, who was the BDA Chairperson, as the ACS. Watsa has now been transferred as the BDA Chairperson. Principal Secretary Finance M R Sreenivas Murthy has been given additional charge as Development Commissioner.