TN chief secy replaced a day after tax raids
State govt issues order appointing Girija Vaidyanathan, but makes no mention of the fate of P Rama Mohana Rao, whose premises were raided
CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government has appointed Girija Vaidyanathan as the state’s chief secretary, replacing P Rama Mohana Rao, a day after the income-tax department raided his residence, office and other properties.
The state government issued an order Thursday morning appointing Vaidyanathan, a 1981 batch IAS officer, as the top bureaucrat.
Vaidyanathan was additional chief secretary/commissioner of land administration prior to this.
She will also hold the additional charge of vigilance commissioner and commissioner for administrative reforms the posts additionally held by Rao.
The order made no mention of Rao’s fate. Though there is speculation he is facing suspension, Rao will continue to remain in service without a posting as no official decision as yet been made.
I-T department officials on Wednesday morning had raided the houses and offices of Rao and his relatives as part of a probe into tax evasion by his son, Vikram Rao, who is currently being interrogated.
Rao’s offices in the state secretariat were also searched on Wednesday. The raids, which continued overnight, resulted in the seizure of `30 lakhs in the new `2,000 denomination notes, 5 kg of gold, and documents containing details of undisclosed assets approximately worth `5 crore from the 11 locations searched, according to tax officials.
The searches at Rao’s premises were reportedly related to the department’s investigation into the biggest haul of cash and gold since the Narendra Modi government launched its demonetisation drive to weed out unaccounted wealth. However, officials refused to divulge how Rao and his relatives are linked to the investigation.
The search began at Rao’s home in the upscale Anna Nagar neighbourhood, where the bureaucrat has being living for the past seven years.
Tax sleuths conducted simultaneous searches connected to Rao and his family in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.
The AIADMK government had appointed Rao as the state’s top bureaucrat this June.
Tamil Nadu opposition leader and DMK treasurer MK Stalin called the action a disgrace to the state. The BJP, however, defended the searches, saying the department was working without discrimination.