Chennai, 09 Oct (H.S.):

Tamil Nadu Home Secretary K. Manivasan has been transferred as Commissioner of Land Administration in the rank of Additional Chief Secretary, as part of a reshuffle involving senior officials overseeing home affairs, electricity, finance and agriculture.

A. Karthik, Chairman and Managing Director of the Tamil Nadu Small Industries Development Corporation (TANSIDCO), will take over from Manivasan as Home Secretary. The change places Karthik at the helm of the department responsible for Home, Excise and Prohibition, the portfolios previously held by Manivasan.

Manivasan had been appointed Home Secretary by the Election Commission ahead of the Assembly election. His posting moves him from the Home Department to land administration, replacing Rajesh Lakhoni, who has been assigned a key role in the State’s electricity sector.

Lakhoni has been posted as Chairman and Managing Director of both the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) and the Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Limited. He succeeds V. Arun Roy, who is moving to the Finance Department as Secretary, Finance (Expenditure).

Besides serving as Chairman and Managing Director of TNEB and the power distribution corporation, Arun Roy had also headed the State’s green energy, electricity transmission and power generation corporations. His transfer shifts him from these electricity sector responsibilities to the expenditure wing of the Finance Department.

Arun Roy replaces N. Venkatesh, who has been appointed Agriculture Production Commissioner and Secretary to the Agriculture–Farmers Welfare Department. These portfolios had been held as additional charges by N. Subbaiyan.

The appointments bring changes to the leadership of administrative departments and public sector corporations. While Karthik assumes responsibility for the Home Department, Lakhoni takes charge of the electricity board and distribution utility, and Venkatesh moves into agriculture administration. Manivasan’s appointment completes the change in land administration, with the post carrying the rank of Additional Chief Secretary under the new arrangement.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Arun Lakshman