State dumps Dharma, sidelines Acharya

The state government on Monday shunted out Mr A.V.Dharma Reddy, the controversial special officer in the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, and took off a key portfolio from the industries principal secretary, Mr B.P. Acharya, as part of a damage control exercise.

At the same time, the Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, kept everyone guessing on who the state’s next director-general of police would be by postponing the decision to Tuesday. It was widely expected that he would anoint Mr K. Aravinda Rao as the new DGP.

Mr Dharma Reddy, an officer with with Indian Defence Estate Service, was shifted to the insignificant post of secretary, AP Information Commission. He had created controversy recently over his alleged involvement in the illegal sale of arjita seva tickets.

Mr Dharma Reddy was a blue-eyed boy of the late Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, who initially brought him in as joint executive officer of TTD. The JEO has the power to issue the most sought-after tickets to various sevas and handle VVIP visits besides controlling the overall administration of Tirumala.

With rules coming in the way of continuing Mr Dharma Reddy as JEO, the YSR government moved him out of TTD in 2008 but brought him back again as TTD special officer.

With his name being dragged into the arjita seva scam, Mr Rosaiah, took a decision to shunt him out on Saturday itself.

The government also acted on the Emaar scam and relieved Mr Acharya of the responsibility of the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation since he had approved the deal with Emaar MGF while serving as APIIC managing director.

The Chief Minister directed the chief secretary, Mr S.V. Prasad, to strip Mr Acharya of APIIC and give it to infrastructure and investment department, now headed by Mr Ajay Mishra.

Meanwhile, Mr Rosaiah postponed the naming of the successor to the DGP, Mr R.R. Girish Kumar, who retires on Tuesday. The Chief Minister informed the officials that he would reveal the name and sign the file related to the appointment only on Tuesday before leaving for New Delhi.

Sources said Mr Aravinda Rao was the top contender for the post unless the Chief Minister decides to give it to another senior cop, Mr Umesh Kumar.

After the news channels went to town saying that Mr Aravinda Rao will be the new DGP, sections close to the Chief Minister stepped up their lobbying for Mr Umesh Kumar, sources said.

"He (Mr Rosaiah) was under tremendous pressure from different sections to appoint Mr Aravinda Rao as the new DGP," said a source. "He was also suggested to consider Mr P. Gautam Kumar to avoid pressures from both sides."

The process of selecting the new DGP started with the three-member committee headed by the chief secretary recommending a panel of six names — two belonging to 1975 batch and four to 1977 — leaving the final decision to the Chief Minister.

The names included Mr K.R. Nandan, Mr P. Gautham Kumar, Mr A. Sivasankar, Mr Umesh Kumar, Mr K. Aravinda Rao and Mr V. Dinesh Reddy.

In another development, the mines department ordered an inquiry against assistant director of mines and geology, Mr Sai Ram Singh, who is facing charges of issuing permits for dispatch of ore mined from six iron ore mines the licences of which the government had suspended last year.

Mr Singh was suspended for not following procedure and issuing permit to companies including Obulapuram Mining Corporation of the Karnataka minister, Mr Gali Janardhan Reddy, without informing the government.