In 1st of Its Kind Happening Husband Passes Mantle of Top  Kerala Govt Post to Wife

Thiruvananthapuram: In a first of its kind event, an IAS wife succeeded her IAS husband as the Chief Secretary in Kerala. Sarada Muraleedharan, a 1990-batch IAS officer, took charge as the chief secretary of the state succeeding her husband, V Venu, who retired on August 31.

The Kerala government had confirmed Muraleedharan’s appointment to the top post on August 21. She previously served as the Additional Chief Secretary (Planning and Economic Affairs).

Both Venu and Muraleedharan are from the 1990 batch of IAS officers. Venu is a few months older than his wife.

Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor wrote on X, “For the first time in India (at least as far as anyone can remember!), Kerala’s outgoing Chief Secretary, Dr V Venu, handed over the CS’s post to his wife, Sarada Muraleedharan, at a formal handover ceremony at the secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram.”

“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. A clip of the ceremony: the government was able to economise on the bouquet!” he added.

During a farewell for Venu on Friday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan observed that while Kerala has seen instances where husband-wife duos have held significant bureaucratic positions, this was the first time that a Chief Secretary has been succeeded by their spouse.