Finance Secy Shanmugham appointed Chief Secretary

The soft-spoken Shanmugham, heading the state finance department as additional chief secretary, replaces Girija Vaidyanathan, who had attained superannuation. Tripathy, a 1985 batch officer, replaces TK Rajendran, who is also retiring on Sunday. Shanmugham has been the longest-serving finance secretary in the regimes of both J Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi. Shanmugham who has completed ten years in the finance department has drafted the state budgets and known for speedy clearances of files.

The new Chief Secretary is the choice of Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and has commanded professionalism during the regimes of DMK and AIADMK.

Hans Raj Verma, (secretary – Rural Development and Panchayat Raj), Rajeev Ranjan (on deputation to GST council), R Rajagopal, who is the secretary to Governor Banwarilal Purohit, were other names considered for the top post. But Shanmugham known for his rapport with fellow bureaucrats had evolved as the natural choice for the AIADMK government. Hailing from a modest background in Vazhapadi, Salem, Shanmugam is an alumnus of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, with a post-graduate degree in agricultural economics.

In May 2010, former chief minister Karunanidhi appointed Shanmugham as the finance secretary and he has been continuing in the post since then. Shanmugham had also served as state food secretary during the tenure of Jayalalithaa.

In the wake of Shanmugham’s elevation, who would be the next finance secretary has emerged as the popular debate. The names of CM secretary Senthil Kumar and housing secretary S Krishnan are making rounds for the post of state finance secretary who will have to handle the math of Tamil Nadu’s Rs 4 lakh crore debt.