P Ravi Kumar to be new Karnataka chief secretary?

T M Vijay Bhaskar took charge as chief secretary in December 2018

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa is likely to pick 1984-batch IAS officer P Ravi Kumar as the next chief secretary in place of T M Vijay Bhaskar who is set to retire on December 31.

Bhaskar, a 1983-batch officer, was felicitated by Yediyurappa and other Cabinet ministers on Monday, which also happened to be his birthday.

Bhaskar took charge as chief secretary in December 2018.

In terms of seniority, Kumar, 58, is said to be next in line after Bhaskar to take up the top administrative post. He is currently additional chief secretary (ACS) and was earlier Yediyurappa’s ACS.

Bhaskar will be known for being a taskmaster and his push for the use of Kannada in administration. He also gave thrust for government services to become easily accessible to citizens with the mantra of ‘sarkarada seve mane bagilige' (government services to the doorsteps).

Got a problem? Send BSY an email

Starting January 1, citizens can send petitions to Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s office by emailing them to [e-mail]

This will be the sole email address that the chief minister’s office (CMO) will use to receive petitions from the public, the CMO said in a statement. At present, the CMO uses three active email addresses, which caused “unnecessary” confusion, the CMO said. Since August 2020, all emails received by the CMO are handled under the e-Office system, a paperless environment that enables faster movement of files and decision-making.