Thiruvananthapuram: Even as Kerala continues to grapple with a shortage of IAS officers, two senior bureaucrats — revenue and disaster management secretary K Jeevan Babu and chief electoral officer A Kowsigan — have been appointed to key positions at Centre, further depleting state’s administrative strength.Department of personnel and training (DoPT) issued orders appointing Babu, a 2011-batch officer, as director in department of sports for a five-year tenure. The order also directed state govt to relieve him immediately so that he can assume charge in New Delhi.In a separate order, DoPT appointed Kowsigan, a 2009-batch Kerala cadre officer, as director in department of animal husbandry and dairying on deputation, also for a period of five years. He too has been asked to be relieved immediately to take up the new assignment.The appointment orders said that both officers were required to join their new posts within three weeks from the date of issue of orders. The departure of the two officers comes when Kerala cadre is facing an acute shortage of IAS officers, with several senior officials already serving on central deputation and multiple key positions in state administration being handled through additional charge arrangements.
