Senior IAS officer P Basanth Kumar, who had been serving as the joint executive officer of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) since July 2019, after YSR Congress party came to power in Andhra Pradesh, had to pay penalty for his overaction.
In a late evening order, the Jagan Mohan Reddy government shunted Basanth Kumar out from the TTD and asked him to report to the General Administration Department (GAD) for further posting.
Basant Kumar, however, will continue to be on deputation with the State Election Commission during the ongoing panchayat elections, and will be the election observer for Nellore district.
The reason for the sudden transfer of Basanth Kumar was his overenthusiasm to please state election commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar, who had come to Tirupati as part of his tour to various district to review the electioneering.
Nimmagadda had a darshan of Lord Venkateshwara on Tirumala hills and Basanth Kumar, who had been on duty in Nellore at that time, rushed to Tirumala to accompany the SEC to the temple.
Though Basanth Kumar could have avoided Ramesh Kumar’s visit on the ground that he was on election duty in Nellore, he rushed to Tirumala only to please the latter. This, the government felt, was a serious issue.
Having obtained an intelligence report on the style of functioning of Basanth Kumar, chief secretary Adityanath Das immediately issued orders removing him from the TTD and asking him to report to the GAD, sources said.
