One more adviser to Tamil Nadu government

One more adviser has been appointed in the State government.

This time, the post has been created in the Water Resources Organisation of the Public Works Department (PWD). R. Emaraj, former chief engineer and engineer-in-chief of the WRO, has been appointed to the post.

Mr Emaraj, who retired from service last month, will hold the post for one year. An order to this effect was issued recently, an official said, adding that the latest instance is not an extension of service.

About seven months ago, R. Gopalakrishnan, former Chief Engineer in charge of the buildings wing of the PWD, completed two years of extended service.

At present, there are two advisers in the State government, both of whom retired from service. Sheela Balakrishnan belonged to Indian Administrative Service and functioned as Chief Secretary, while K. Ramanujam was from the Indian Police Service and a former Director General of Police.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M. Karunanidhi said the appointment of Mr Emaraj had been made at a time when many of his juniors were expecting to be posted to the post hitherto held by the official.

Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, in a statement last month, recalled that when Mr Karunanidhi was in power, several retired IAS officers were appointed in the capacity of adviser or officer on special duty or coordinator – S. Guhan in 1989; K. A. Sundaram in 1996; A.K. Venkat Subramanian in 1997 and K. Lakshmikanthan Bharati in 1998.