Pic Talk: Srilakshmi Is Back With Jagan

After a lot of lobbying and appeals to the higher officials at the Centre, senior IAS officer Yerra Srilakshmi is finally back in Jagan’s government in Andhra Pradesh. She started attending the meetings of higher officials and discharging duties as the secretary in the Municipal Administration and Urban Development.

Soon as YCP president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy became the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, the senior IAS officer, embroiled in the multi-crore Obulapuram mining case, applied seeking transfer to Andhra Pradesh through deputation, from the Telangana government.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, who is also accused in the iron ore mining scam, tried his best to get Srilakshmi shifted to Andhra Pradesh. Reddy reportedly approached several senior officials at the Centre in Delhi and lobbied to achieve this but was told that officers of secretary cadre and beyond could not be sent to other states on deputation.

In Feburary 2020, Srilakshmi approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) and got her cadre shifted. She stated that her native place was in Visakhapatnam district and that their family reached Hyderabad as her father, a railway officer, got transferred to the city. She said that their family got shifted to Hyderabad due to her father’s profession.

Further, she said that during bifurcation of the state, the officials concluded that she belonged to Telangana basing on her postal address while in fact, she belonged to the Andhra Pradesh. The CAT also agreed with her argument and relieved her of duties from Telangana government. Immediately, she reached Amaravati and joined duties at the Secretariat in Velagapudi.

In 2011, the 1988-batch IAS officer was arrested in connection with the Obulapuram mining scam and then suspended. Later, the suspension orders on her were lifted but she was not awarded any promotion.

Karnataka former minister Gali Janardhan Reddy, who is also the owner of tainted Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC), is the prime accused in the Obulapuram mining scam. Srilakshmi was charged by the CBI with flouting norms in granting mining leases to the company when Jagan’s father, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, was the Chief Minister.