IAS officer Amrapali Kata from Andhra Pradesh cadre serving in Telangana has been appointed as Deputy Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Saturday. The officer is one of the three IAS officials to be posted and will serve the PMO until October 27, 2023.
The names of three officials were announced by the appointment committee of the Cabinet (ACC) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which has Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah as a member. The officers are to join the post within three weeks from the date of issue of the appointment order, failing to do so will result in their debarment.
Three IAS officers appointed in the Prime Minister Office (PMO).
— The Leaflet (@TheLeaflet_in) September 12, 2020
1) Raghuraj Rajendran (Madya Pradesh cadre) as Director.
2) Amrapali Kata (Andhra Pradesh cadre) as Deputy Secretary and
3) Mangesh Ghildiyal (Uttarakhand cadre) as Under Secretary. pic.twitter.com/IJGVyTsdtF
Amrapali is from the 2010 Andra Pradesh cadre and had earlier served as Vikarabad sub-collector, joint collector of Ranga Reddy district, Warangal Urban district collector, the joint CEO of elections at the state election commission. She has also functioned as the private secretary of Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy and is presently serving as Deputy Secretary in the cabinet secretariat.
The officer has been in the news for her different approach to treating her staff. The officer courted controversy in 2017 when she booked an entire theatre so that her staff could watch Baahubali 2. She faced legal trouble after being accused of misusing her power for buying tickets in bulk.
Several sexist comments and criticism were levelled against the officer in 2018 for her Republic day speech while being posted as Warangal Urban Collector. Amrapali had laughed during the republic day speech as she struggled to pronounce certain Telugu words.
Raghuraj Rajendran an IAS officer from the 2004 Madhya Pradesh cadre has been appointed as Director to the PMO. He was earlier serving as Private Secretary to the Minister of Steel and Petroleum and Natural Gas under Dharmendra Pradhan. Mangesh Ghildiyal a 2012 Uttarakhand cadre IAS officer has been appointed as Under Secretary to the PMO.