Jyothilal and Puneeth appointed Additional Chief Secretaries; B Ashok is now Principal Secretary

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: IAS officers KR Jyothilal, Puneeth Kumar, and Dr. B Ashok have been promoted. While Jyothilal and Puneeth have been appointed as Additional Chief Secretaries, Dr. B Ashok has been appointed as Principal Secretary. Both Jyothilal and Puneeth have been given Chief Secretary grade.

Jyothilal is given Public Administration and Energy departments while Puneeth Kumar is given Planning and PRD. B Ashok will continue in Agriculture department. Ashok is also the Chairman of KDCFC.

KR Jyothilal is a 1993 batch IAS officer with B.Tech from IIT Madras. He took his MBA from ICFAI University. He has become the Secretary of many departments including IT, Transport, Aviation, Ports, Excise, Parliamentary Affairs, etc. He has been Collector of Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur. He also headed many projects such as Kochi Metro, Smart City, E-Mobility, Kannur Airport, and High-tech Agriculture. He is a native of Chathanoor in Kollam.

Dr. B Ashok is a 1998 batch IAS officer. He is famous as an education expert, writer, orator, academician, and columnist. He was the first Vice Chancellor of Veterinary University. He also served as the deputy director of National Academy of Administration in Missouri. As Chairman and Managing Director of Electricity Board, he had introduced many reforms. After gaining his post-graduation from Agriculture University, he took another post-graduation from an Italian varsity in International Politics. He is the IAS Association President. He is from Kollam Chathanoor.