KCR plans reshuffle of IAS officers after January 5

Hyderabad: Following the recent major reshuffle of the state's police top brass, the Chandrasekhar Rao government is expected to rejig IAS officers sometime after January 5, when the Election Commission of India (ECI) publishes the final electoral rolls for the Assembly elections scheduled for December this year.

According to official sources, the reshuffle will cover IAS officers from collectors to secretaries, principal secretaries, and special chief secretaries.

For the first time in Telangana state, five non-revenue employees would be conferred IAS status later this month. The state government has submitted to the Centre's Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) a list of 25 senior officials working in non-revenue agencies who are eligible for 'conferred IAS' rank.

A committee appointed by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) will conduct personal interviews with these 25 candidates and select five for conferring IAS rank. Non-revenue officials working with ministers as OSD (officer on special duty) and PS (personal secretary), as well as three women officials, are among the candidates in the list for conferring IAS status.

The last major reshuffle was on February 3, 2020, when the government transferred 50 IAS officers at one go, including collectors to various districts. The CM is now planning a similar rehaul in the run-up to the 2023 Assembly polls.

Earlier, Chandrashekar Rao and Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar held a series of meetings to discuss and finalise the reshuffling of IAS officers soon after the Munugode Assembly bypoll result on November 6 to form an 'election team' in order to fast-track administration for the effective implementation of welfare schemes and development programmes.

Implementation of the plan it was eventually deferred as district collectors were discharging duties as district election officers were engaged with the EC's duties of undertaking summary revision of draft electoral rolls since November. The government has put the process on hold since the EC would not allow the government to transfer collectors during the period of summary revision of electoral rolls.

Currently, several critical departments lack full-time secretaries, commissioners, or directors, and these roles are held by incharges.

The Chief Secretary is handling the additional responsibilities of all main revenue-generating departments, including revenue, registration, stamps, excise, and commercial taxes. The CS also holds the full additional charge of chief commissioner of land administration (CCLA) in addition to being the chairperson of the TS Real Estate Regulatory Authority.

Further, four districts have no collectors and are overseen by incharge collectors from other districts. Since the formation of Telangana state in 2014, a few IAS officers have remained in the same positions for the last eight years.