Going by seniority, the State government on Friday appointed Additional Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner Vandita Sharma, a 1986 batch IAS officer, as the new Chief Secretary of Karnataka.
The incumbent Chief Secretary P. Ravi Kumar, will retire from the service on superannuation on May 31, 2022, according to a notification issued by the government.
Ms. Sharma will take over from Mr. Ravi Kumar on May 31. She will be in office till November 2023.
A native of Punjab, she will be Karnataka’s 39th Chief Secretary. Vandita Sharma’s husband is Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) I.S.N. Prasad. Born in 1963, Ms. Sharma holds an MA degree in English.
Ms. Sharma is the fourth woman to occupy the post of the Chief Secretary of the State after Rathna Prabha (2017), Teresa Bhattacharya (2000), and Malathi Das (2006)
In her career spanning over 35 years, Ms. Sharma has occupied several administrative positions in various departments of the State government. Last year, she was appointed as nodal officer to monitor COVID-19 vaccination in the State. She also worked with the Department of Space at the Centre.
Currently, Ms. Sharma is the honorary president of the Karnataka IAS Officers’ Association. In May 2021, she had written to the then Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa expressing “strong protest” against the manhandling of a young IAS officer V. Yashwanth allegedly by supporters of BJP MLA Satish Reddy.
