IAS officer P Ravi Kumar appointed as Karnataka Chief Secretary

Senior IAS officer P Ravi Kumar has been appointed as Karnataka’s 38th chief secretary.

An official notification appointing Kumar as the chief secretary was issued by the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) on Wednesday. He is expected to take charge on Thursday.

Kumar, a 1984-batch officer, will replace T M Vijay Bhaskar who will superannuate on December 31 after a 37-year career as a bureaucrat.

In terms of seniority, Kumar, 58, was next in line after Bhaskar to take up the top administrative post. He is currently an additional chief secretary (ACS) and was earlier Yediyurappa’s ACS. He can hold the top post till his retirement in May 2022.

A native of Andhra Pradesh, Kumar holds a postgraduate degree in Mathematics and a PG diploma in Econometrics, a field that uses economic theory, mathematics, and statistics to study economic phenomena.

Kumar headed the energy department during the launch of the Pavagada solar park, which is hailed as one of Asia’s largest.

Going forward, the new chief secretary faces several challenges, which include the Covid-19 pandemic, fiscal recovery and the upcoming 2021-22 budget.

There is no clarity on who will replace Kumar as the government’s additional chief secretary. According to the civil list, 1985-batch officers Pradeep Singh Kharola, Yogendra Tripathi, and Amita Prasad, who are on Central deputation, will retire next year (Prasad in January 2022), whereas Mahendra Jain will retire in March 2021. Vandita Sharma from the 1986 batch, currently ACS-cum-Development Commissioner, will retire in November 2023.