1. Shiva Das Meena to succeed Irai Anbu as T.N. Chief Secretary
The Tamil Nadu government has named senior IAS officer Shiv Das Meena as the Chief Secretary. He will succeed V. Irai Anbu who is due for superannuation on June 30. Further, the incumbent Commissioner of Police, Chennai, Shankar Jiwal, has been named as the Director-General of Police, succeeding C. Sylendra Babu who will retire from service on June 30.
Mr. Meena, a 1989-batch officer in the Additional Chief Secretary grade, was until recently the Secretary of the Municipal Administration and Water Supply (MAWS) Department. A native of Rajasthan, he earlier worked closely with Chief Minister M.K. Stalin when the latter was the Minister for Local Administration in the erstwhile DMK regime.
Meanwhile, the incumbent Commissioner of Police, Chennai, Shankar Jiwal, has been appointed as the Director-General of Police / Head of Police Force, Tamil Nadu. He is to succeed C. Sylendra Babu who will retire from service on June 30. Sandeep Rai Rathore, a 1992-batch IPS officer, will take charge as the Commissioner of Police, Chennai.
2. India’s first police drone unit launched in Chennai
The Greater Chennai City Police launched ‘Police Drone Unit’ for aerial surveillance over vast areas and quick detection of criminal activities.
Director General of Police (DGP) and Head of Police Force C. Sylendra Babu who inaugurated the newly-created special unit at Adyar said it was the first-of-its-kind initiative in India, established at a cost of ₹3.6 crore. At present, nine drones are operated around Marina and Elliots beaches.
3. Chidambaram temple issue | PIL filed at Madras HC
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Madras High Court challenging the Government Order issued in 2022, which permits devotees to climb atop Kanakasabhai mandapam at Sri Natarajar Temple in Chidambaram to have darshan of the presiding deity, Sri Sabhanayagar.
This comes in the wake of an ongoing tiff between the Tamil Nadu government and the Podhu Dikshithars of the temple over permitting darshan from the mandapam.
