IRS officer Venkaiah Chowdary to be the new JEO of TTD

Tirupati: Now, it’s official that a senior Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Ch Venkaiah Chowdary will become the new Joint Executive Officer of TTD. The Appointments Committee of the Central Cabinet has approved the deputation of Chowdary to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the trust responsible for managing the renowned Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple in Tirumala.

The IRS officer of the 2005 batch, has been picked and recommended by the Andhra Pradesh state government and sought the permission of the central government for his deputation. This appointment marked a special case, with the Centre making an exception to its usual policy to facilitate this three-year deputation.

While the Department of Revenue proposed this deputation it subsequently received approval from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. An official order confirming this decision was issued on Tuesday by the Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India.

During the previous TDP government’s tenure, he served as the Vice Chairman and Managing Director of the AP Mineral Development Corporation Limited. He joined the state service in 2016 and continued in this role for three years. However, following the change in government in 2019, Chowdary returned to his parent cadre.

It is felt that the appointment of Chowdary as JEO is expected to lead to the abolition of the additional executive officer post in TTD, which was created by the previous YSRCP government for the sake of appointing an Indian Defence Estate Service (IDES) officer A V Dharma Reddy in that post.

It may be recalled here that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has made his intention clear to cleanse the TTD administration completely during his visit to Tirumala immediately after assuming charge in June.

Against this backdrop, Chowdary’s appointment assumed significance as he is considered to be close to Naidu. Now, the state government has to formally issue orders duly appointing Chowdary as the JEO which may be expected anytime now.