On Monday, the Telangana government finally appointed a full-time chairperson for the Telangana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), almost six years after its establishment.For a term of five years, N Satyanarayana, a 2009-batch IAS officer presently holding the position of Commissioner and Director of Municipal Administration, has been designated as the inaugural chairperson of RERA. Up until now, the chief secretary, A Santhi Kumari, has been temporarily fulfilling the role of chairperson.
Alongside the chairperson, the state government has appointed Jannu Laxmi Narayana, a retired additional commissioner of the commercial taxes department, and K Srinivas Rao, a retired director of the town planning wing, as members of RERA.
Earlier this year in January, the government had called for applications for the positions of RERA chairperson and two members. Around 80 officers, including former chief secretaries and retired IAS officers such as Somesh Kumar, SK Joshi, and T Chiranjeevulu, applied for the posts.
Initially, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao considered appointing Somesh Kumar as the RERA chief since he had been acting as the chief of RERA for nearly three years. However, Somesh Kumar was later made the chief adviser to the CM. SK Joshi's name was not considered for RERA as he currently serves as an advisor to the government on irrigation issues.
Based on their strong track record and expertise in urban and revenue matters, municipal administration minister KT Rama Rao and CM KCR favored the appointment of Satyanarayana over the other candidates. Satyanarayana has previously worked in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), served as a commissioner in various civic bodies, and worked as the collector of Kamareddy district. It is worth noting that Satyanarayana is set to retire by the end of this month.
Official sources state that the government issued a notification to fill the RERA positions in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Forum for Good Governance (FGC) in the Telangana High Court last year, which raised concerns about RERA appointments.
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