The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Narayanan new Chief Secretary

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 01, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Narayanan new Chief Secretary

By V. Jayanth

Expected to provide sharp focus to development and infrastructure

N. Narayanan

CHENNAI: The suspense, if any, over the appointment of a new Chief Secretary to the Tamil Nadu Government ended this evening. The Principal Secretary Finance and Development Commissioner, N. Narayanan, took over as the administrative chief from Lakshmi Pranesh, who has retired.

Mr. Narayanan has the distinction of having headed the Finance department for the most number of years. He served as Finance Secretary in the M.G. Ramachandran, M. Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa regimes. After being the Finance Secretary during her previous tenure, he was brought back to the same position by Ms. Jayalalithaa when she returned to power in 2001, when the State faced its worst financial crisis. The Government not only emerged out of that fiscal mess, but also reached a "fairly comfortable position" in management of finances.

According to Secretariat sources, Mr. Narayanan was clearly the "favourite," but there were at least two other senior officers in contention. Several factors were apparently taken into consideration before the final choice was made and the Chief Minister was in no doubt who would deliver. The sources said the announcement was expected even on Friday, when Ms. Lakshmi Pranesh was given a formal farewell by her colleagues. But there was some "tension in the air" on the possible last-minute action by the Centre against Ms. Pranesh. "Fortunately, nothing happened and she has been allowed to retire in peace and grace," a senior official said.

Even when Ms. Lakshmi Pranesh went on leave to the U.S. last year, Mr. Narayanan, who was already designated Additional Chief Secretary, was asked to officiate as the Chief Secretary. Aside from being the Principal Finance Secretary, Mr. Narayanan was also the Development Commissioner, and in that capacity, he was already focussing on most of the development projects and programmes in Tamil Nadu.

Born in July 1948, Mr. Narayanan belongs to the 1970 batch. He graduated from the College of Engineering, Guindy, taking his B.E. in Electrical Engineering.

Given his penchant for financial and project management, his colleagues expect him to focus clearly on development and infrastructure. Considering that the Assembly elections are only a year away, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa will expect him to deliver on the promises she made to the people.

There have been some consequential changes in the top bureaucracy and the most prominent of them has been the posting of K. Gnanadesikan as the new Finance Secretary. His earlier tenure as Chairman of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board should come in handy in this assignment.

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