Ravi Kumar likely to be new Chief Secretary

BENGALURU: The incumbent Chief Secretary, T M Vijay Bhaskar, is set to retire on December 31. He will most likely be succeeded by P Ravi Kumar, the Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka. Ravi Kumar belongs to the 1984 batch of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and is the second senior most IAS officer of Karnataka cadre after Bhaskar. “There has been no talk in the government regarding the extension of the tenure of the incumbent Chief Secretary,” said placed sources.

Kumar, who enjoys a sound reputation as a bureaucrat and ‘team leader’, will take on the affairs of Karnataka bureaucracy at a time when the financial health of the State has taken a serious blow because of the pandemic and has adversely impacted tax collection. “The biggest challenge facing the top bureaucrat would be tax collection, maintaining the fiscal deficit below 3 per cent and ensuring that the State’s debt to gross state domestic product does not cross 25 per cent. It is currently at 19 per cent but is bound to go up because of the GDP growth, which is in negative,” said official sources.

‘New Cs must streamline industry licensing laws’

“The land, municipality and Panchayat licensing laws in Karnataka are outdated and adversely impact new investments. The new Chief Secretary will have to streamline these laws for the new investors,” sources added. Recently, in a virtual summit, Deputy Chief Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan had assured the investors that Karnataka’s GSDP, which presently stands at Rs 15.35 lakh crore, has the potential to reach Rs 35 lakh crore. Karnataka has traditionally managed its financial health better than most other states in the country. It has been a revenue surplus State.

“The GDP growth rate has gone into negative, which will impact the size of the GSDP. The State has also not received all the four instalments of the Goods & Services Tax (GST) from the Centre,” sai d an official. Much before the onset of the pandemic, the year began with Karnataka taking a serious beating in the devolution of Central funds by the 15th Finance Commission (FC) after its share was slashed from 4.71 per cent to 3.65 per cent. Barring Tamil Nadu, the rest of the South Indian states saw their share of horizontal devolution fall after the 15th FC used the 2011 population data to calculate tax shares, which was one of the key reasons for the drastic cut in devolution of funds. Karnataka was the worst affected.

Vandita may replace Ravi Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) and Development Commissioner Vandita Sharma of the 1986 batch is likely to be posted in Ravi Kumar’s place, said sources. Three Principal Secretaries of 1990 batch of IAS – Kapil Mohan, Gaurav Gupta and Kumar Naik -- are likely to be promoted as ACS if the Centre permits additional posts of ACS, said sources.