The centre approved the Tamil Nadu government's proposal seeking an extension of the services of Chief Secretary M. Sai Kumar, a 1990-batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer, who is due to retire in August this year.
The Department of Personnel and Training, government of India, approved the proposal sent by the Tamil Nadu government on June 3, extending his service by six months from September 1 to February 28 next year under Rule 16(1) of the All India Services (Death-cum-Retirement Benefits) Rules, 1958.
Sai Kumar was appointed the Chief Secretary in April during the enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct for the recent Assembly elections in the State.
There were rumours that S Krishnan (IAS: 1989: TN) Secretary, Electronics & IT, would be repatriated to his home cadre to get appointed as Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu.
Now that the centre has extended tenure of M Sai Kumar for six months, the rumours have been put to rest.
Sai Kumar is the second CS in recent times to get extension. It may be recalled that during the COVID outbreak in June 2020, the then CS K Shanmugam (Retd IAS: 1985: TN) was given two successive extensions of three-month each beyond his retirement age.
