The government of India Tuesday cleared the name of a former Indian Administrative Service officer Skandan Krishnan as advisor to the Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik.
In a letter to the J&K chief secretary, the union ministry of home affairs conveyed the approval of the “competent authority” for the appointment of Krishnan as the governor’s fourth advisor.
“It is requested to issue the orders under the similar terms and conditions as that of other advisors and intimate the same to this ministry,” the MHA’s letter reads.
In November 2018, the governor Satya Pal Malik expanded his team by appointing Kewal Kumar Sharma, a former bureaucrat, as his advisor.
With Krishnan’s appointment, the number of advisors appointed in the state after governor’s rule has gone up to five, including former advisor BB Vyas, who later resigned to join the Union Public Service Commission.
Other advisors to the governor are Khurshid Ahmad Ganai, K Vijay Kumar and Kewal Kumar Sharma.
A J&K government spokesman said in a statement that Skandan has done his graduation in Hyderabad Nizam college, post-graduation in political science from the Christian College, Madras University, and also Bachelor of Law from Madras Law College.
He joined the IAS in 1982 and was allotted the Tamil Nadu cadre.
He has held various senior positions in Tamil Nadu and served continuously for 25 years before joining the government of India, the spokesman said.
“During the period of 25 years, some of the important assignments held by him include the first registrar of Dr MGR Medical University in 1988; special officer and the collector of Nagapattinam district in 1991-93; the first member secretary of financial commission for panchayats in 1994-95. He has served both as director agriculture and sericulture from 1995 to 1997 and was commissioner of Industries and Commerce during 2001-02. He also held the post of secretary Industries in 2002-03 and strived to carry forward the tradition in the state of Tamil Nadu into a major industrial hub”, the spokesman said.
He formulated the SEZ policy for the state during this period, he said.
“He was also the chairman of Tamil Nadu Electricity Board and introduced innovative strategies and planning to reduce the transmission losses in the power sector and to boost its revenue. He was also the CMD of Tamil Nadu News Print Limited in 2003 and played an important role in the modernization of the unit and export marketing of its products. He had also served in the social sector as managing director of Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women Limited,” the spokesman said.
In the government of India, the spokesman said, he has held the important assignments of joint secretary in-charge of Centre-State division, Kashmir division, from 2007 to 2012 and was assigned charge of the additional secretary (Centre-States) division from 2012 onwards.