First time in India, lady IAS officer succeeds IAS husband as Chief Secretary of a state

In a first for India, a wife succeeded her husband as the Chief Secretary of a state. IAS Sarada Muraleedharan, a 1990-batch IAS officer has taken over as the Chief Secretary of Kerala from her husband and IAS V Venu, who retired on August 31.

Both Venu and Sarada are from the 1990 batch of IAS officers. An adorable moment of IAS Venu handing over his post to his wife and welcoming her with a flower bouquet is the best thing you will see on the internet today.

The historic moment was shared by veteran Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor. Taking to his X handle, Tharoor shared a moment from the iconic moment and wrote, “For the first time in India (at least as far as anyone can remember!), Kerala’s outgoing ChiefSecretary, Dr V, Venu, handed over the CS’s post to his wife, Sarada Murlidharan, at a formal handover ceremony at the secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram.”

For the first time in India (at least as far as anyone can remember!), Kerala’s outgoing ChiefSecretary, Dr V, Venu, handed over the CS’s post to his wife, Sarada Murlidharan, at a formal handover ceremony at the secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram. Both are IAS officers of the… pic.twitter.com/E0nZmDDIWi

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) September 1, 2024

“Both are IAS officers of the 1990 batch but Venu is several months older than his wife, who is next in seniority in the service,” Tharoor added.

While husband and wife have held significant bureaucratic positions in India, this was the first time that a Chief Secretary has been succeeded by his wife.

“Now I am a bit anxious as I have to continue in service for another eight months after his retirement. We worked together as civil servants for 34 years, but I never gave much thought to the fact that we will not leave the service together,” Sarada said after taking over as the new Chief Secretary of Kerala.