TN Health Secy J Radhakrishnan transferred

After a stint of over six years as Tamil Nadu Health Secretary, senior IAS official, J Radhakrishnan was Saturday transferred to the Transport Department.

Belonging to the 1992 batch of the IAS, Radhakrishnan, assumed charge in the Health and Family Welfare Department in September 2012.

He will now hold charge as Principal Secretary, Transport Department, according to a Government Order which also notified transfers and postings in respect of other officials.

The 51-year old officer's transfer comes after Justice A Arumughaswamy Commission of Inquiry's (which is probing the death of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa) counsel made an allegation against him in December 2018.

 

In a petition before the Commission, the counsel had alleged that Radhakrishnan "colluded and conspired," with Apollo Hospitals and "inappropriate treatment" was provided to her.

Both the hospital and Radhakrishnan had rejected the allegations.

The hospital, dismissing the allegations had said, that the proceedings before the inquiry panel cannot be "accusatorial" in nature.

The top official had dismissed the allegations levelled against him as "unfounded, baseless and wild."

The allegation was "not only false, but also slanderous", the top official had said.

In his capacity as Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Radhakrishnan was among top State officials who had a tab on the treatment for the late Chief Minister in 2016 at Apollo Hospitals here.

Also, Tamil Nadu Law Minister C V Shanmugam had wanted the state government to "investigate" the official's background, whom he had alleged was against taking Jayalalithaa abroad for treatment in 2016.

"Whether to take her or not to a foreign destination for treatment was purely a medical decision for which it would not be correct to hold an official like me responsible," Radhakrishnan had said.

On the issue of transfusion of HIV infected blood to a woman recently as well, Radhakrishnan had faced flak from some opposition leaders.