Tamil Nadu Health Secretary Beela Rajesh removed over COVID-19 cases spike, J Radhakrishnan takes over

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Chennai: In the wake of the rising number of coronavirus COVID-19 cases, the Tamil Nadu government on Friday (June 12) transferred Health Secretary Beela Rajesh and appointed special Nodal officer for Chennai and senior IAF official J Radhakrishnan to the post. 

The transfer order comes at a time when the southern state has over 38,000 cases of COVID-19 with its capital city Chennai seeing 27,000 cases alone.

"Dr Beela Rajesh, IAS, Secretary to Government, Health and Family Welfare Department is transferred and posted as Secretary to Government, Commercial, Taxes and Registration Department vice Thiru N. Muruganandam IAS, holding an additional charge," a notification released by the government stated. 

"J Radhakrishnan, IAS, Principal Secretary/Commissioner of Revenue Administration is transferred and posted as Principal Secretary to Government, Health and Family Welfare Department vice "Dr Beela Rajesh, IAS. He will continue to hold the post of Principal Secretary/Commissioner of Revenue Administration in full additional charge until further orders," it added. 

Radhakrishnan, from the 1992 batch of the IAS, was Health Secretary of Tamil Nadu till February 2019. After he was transferred as the Transport Secretary, Beela Rajesh had taken over as the Health Secretary.

Dr Beela Rajesh is the daughter of Rani Venkatesan, a senior Congress leader and former MLA, and S N Venkatesan, a retired DGP. Her husband Rajesh Das is an IPS officer, currently serving as an Additional Director General of Police in the State.