Somesh Kumar likely to go to Andhra Pradesh today

HYDERABAD: Former chief secretary Somesh Kumar is likely to report for duty in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday following the department of personnel and training's ord-ers. Sources said he is likely to take a morning flight to Vijayawada on Thursday and report for duty.
However, speculation is rife in the bureaucratic circles here that Somesh may go for an appeal in the Supreme Court against Telangana high court verdict after reporting to AP government and proceeding on leave.
There are also rumours that Somesh may take voluntary retirement and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao may appoint him as an advisor in the government keeping his experience, especially in revenue mobilisation and tax collection, in view. KCR has already accommodated former chief secretaries like Rajiv Sharma and SK Joshi as government advisors.
A former bureaucrat said even if he were to opt for VRS, Somesh, as per the procedure, will first have to go to AP and report to the state chief secretary, who heads GAD, and then go on leave.
"He can apply for VRS only after reporting for duty there. Even for granting VRS, the state government can only recommend as it has to be approved by the DoPT," a former special chief secretary said.
The ex-top officer said generally DoPT issues orders on the allotment and the state government concerned relieves an officer from the state. "But in the case of Somesh Kumar, the DoPT issued an unprecedented order relieving him immediately," he explained. After relieving him from state, DoPT had asked Somesh to report to AP within 48 hours.
Meanwhile, state government may post other officers for various departments, which were handled by Somesh when he was chief secretary here. Somesh was holding additional charge of key posts which were not given to any other officer.
Somesh was officiating as in-charge chief commissioner of land administration, revenue, commercial taxes and excise departments, which are key in generation of revenue for the state.