In a major reshuffle in the bureaucracy, the state government transferred over a dozen IAS officers on Tuesday.
Yet again, the post of labour secretary has become a musical chair with the government transferring M Maheshwar Rao out to bring in Rajkumar Khatri.
This is the third time Rao has been transferred out as the labour secretary. He was first appointed to the post in May, only to be moved again and replaced by Khatri. In June, Rao was brought back. The latest transfer of Rao, who is also MSME secretary, comes after the government approved an ordinance to make industry-friendly amendments to labour laws. In fact, activists had cried foul, saying Rao holding charge of MSMEs and labour was a conflict of interest.
Khatri, the additional chief secretary for agriculture, will hold concurrent charge of the labour department.
Additional Chief Secretary (women & child development) N Nagambika Devi has been placed in concurrent charge of social welfare, replacing G Kumar Naik who is in charge of enforcing Covid-19 SOPs for containment zones in Bengaluru.
In other transfers, the government appointed Rajendra KV as the deputy commissioner of Dakshina Kannada, Pommala Sunil Kumar of Vijayapura and Kavitha S Mannikeri of Chitradurga districts.
Other postings are as follows: Manoj Jain, special commissioner (planning), BBMP; Rajendra Cholan P, special commissioner (finance & IT), BBMP; R Vinoth Priya, director, MSME; BR Mamatha, additional mission director, Sakala Mission; Sindhu B Rupesh, director, electronic delivery of citizen services; Darshan HV, CEO, Belagavi Zilla Panchayat; HN Gopala Krishna, managing director, Mysuru Sugar Company Ltd; Patil Yalagouda Shivanagouda, joint director, Administrative Training Institute, Mysuru.