Assembly secretary to retire today, successor yet to be named

Sources also revealed that the successor is unlikely to get the full saddle. The chosen candidate will be asked to hold the post as in-charge as it was done in the case of the incumbent Boopathy, whose appointment was made full-time three months after his elevation. 

Sources also hinted that even an interim arrangement of a 3-months extension was among the options mulled by the Administration. The post, for which there is tough competition among the senior staff in the Assembly Secretariat, is also entangled in a legal tussle as two of them had filed a joint-petition before the Madras High Court to pre-empt the government from appointing Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal’s Special Private Secretary K Srinivasan to the post. 

The contention of the duo – Assembly’s Additional Secretary LS Vasanthimalar and Joint Secretary B Subramaniyam, is that the plans were afoot to elevate Srinivasan to the post, which would be in contravention to the Assembly Secretariat Rules. 

A similar tussle emerged between the government and the staff when the previous secretary was due to retire last year. It was then settled following the intervention of the Speaker.