The state government of Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday has named senior IPS officer and former intelligence chief A B Venkateswara Rao as commissioner of printing, stationery and stores purchase department. The State government issued a order regarding this, in the wake of the recent order of the Supreme Court to reinstate him. Mr. Rao will be relieving Special Chief Secretary G. Vijay Kumar, who is currently holding full additional charge as the Commissioner of the said department.
After the Supreme Court struck down the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the State government challenging the High Court verdict of lifting suspension on the 1989 batch IPS officer, he reported to the General Administration Department on April 29 and urged Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma for posting.
Chief secretary Sameer Sharma issued a government order in this regard. Rao is the second DGP-rank officer to be posted as commissioner of printing and stationery after R P Thakur. Soon after the YSRC came to power in May 2019, then DGP Thakur was transferred and posted as commissioner of printing and stationery, while Rao, who was in the post of director general of anti-corruption bureau, was transferred without posting. He was later suspended over alleged service violations. Rao fought a legal battle against his suspension which went up to the Supreme Court, which recently revoked his suspension.
