SATISFYING CAREER: Chief Secretary Malathi Das being felicitated by the Karnataka Government Secretariat Employees' Union and Government Gazetted Officers' Union in Bangalore on Friday. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Bangalore: Chief Secretary Malathi Das will retire on Sunday after holding the post for three months. She took charge as Chief Secretary from B.K. Das on September 30, 2006.

Additional Chief Secretary A.K. Agarwal is likely to succeed Dr. Das if the State Government follows the seniority rule, sources in the Secretariat said.

Thus, the State will have a new Chief Secretary from January 1, 2007. Mr. Agarwal, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, will retire in mid-2007.

In fact, Dr. Das is the first woman IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre to be appointed Chief Secretary of the State although Teresa Bhattacharya who succeeded her husband B.K. Bhattacharya was the first woman IAS officer to be appointed Chief Secretary. The Karnataka Government Secretariat Employees' Union and Government Gazetted Officers' Union on Friday organised a farewell to Dr. Das at the conference hall of the Vidhana Soudha.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Das said she held important positions in her 36 years of service. When she joined the IAS, she preferred the New Delhi cadre, but her parents told her to opt for Karnataka cadre since she was born in the State.

She quoted actor Rajkumar's famous song " Huttidare Kannada Nadinalli Huttabeku" and said she enjoyed working in the State. She belonged to the 1970 batch of the IAS.

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