Hyderabad (02.01.2023): The Telangana government is likely to enact a major reshuffle of IAS officers any time after January 5, 2022 when the Election Commission of India (ECI) will publish the final electoral rolls for the next Assembly election expected to be held in December 2023.
The reshuffle will cover IAS officers from collectors to secretaries, principal secretaries and special chief secretaries. For the first time in Telangana, five non-revenue employees would also be conferred IAS status later this month. The government already submitted a list of 25 such eligible senior officials to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) at the Centre.
A committee appointed by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) will conduct personal interviews and select five for conferring IAS rank. Non-revenue officials working with ministers as OSD and PS as well as three women officials are among the candidates in the list for conferring IAS status. The CM is planning a rehaul in the run-up to the 2023 Assembly polls on similar lines as he did on February 3, 2020 when he reshuffled 50 IAS officers.
Telangana CM and Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar held a series of meetings to finalise the reshuffling of IAS officers soon after the Munugode Assembly by-poll 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.
But it was deferred as district collectors were discharging duties as district election officers. They 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 in-charges. 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 in-charge 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.
