Tamil Nadu secretariat abuzz with speculations about 50th Chief Secretary

CHENNAI: The corridors of power in Tamil Nadu is abuzz with speculations about the next Chief Secretary after the incumbent Shiv Das Meena, who is due for retirement in a few months, was moved as the chairperson of the Tamil Nadu Real Estate Regulatory Authority (TNRERA), on Sunday.

Meena was given the new posting with immediate effect, from August 18, for a tenure of five years, according to the Government Order issued by the Housing and Urban Development Department principal secretary Kakarla Usha. K Gnanadesikan was the chairperson from February 8, 2019, to February 10, 2024.

Shiv Das Meena became the 49th Chief Secretary after V Irai Anbu's tenure ended in June 2023. The 1989-batch officer, a native of Tonk district in Rajasthan, is a civil engineering graduate and also possesses a Masters in International Development Studies from Kobe, Japan.

Meena’s career, which has spanned more than three decades, started in Kancheepuram district as an assistant collector in 1990. Over the decades, he has held several posts, including in Chennai Corporation, Metro Water, district Collector, Electricity Board, etc.

Even though the retirement of a senior official is known from the moment the person is appointed, it still came as a surprise for many. Now, with Meena being shifted to RERA, the State secretariat is bustling, with several names of his possible successor making the rounds. The candidates under consideration include a senior official who is part of Chief Minister MK Stalin’s inner circle on the administrative side.