In a quick turn of events, the transfer order of Kalaburagi Deputy Commissioner B. Sharat was put on hold late on Tuesday evening to allow the officer to continue in his post handling the COVID-19 containment measures in the district.

Through a notification on Tuesday, Mr. Sharat was transferred with immediate effect as the Executive Director of Karnataka Examination Authority to replace Suralkar Vikas Kishor who was transferred as the Deputy Commissioner of Kalaburagi. In the same notification, it was clarified that the post of Executive Director of Karnataka Examination Authority had been declared equivalent in status and responsibilities to the cadre post of Director of Municipal Administration under Rule 12 of IAS (Pay) Rules, 2016 in the Senior Scale of IAS as included in the Scheduled-II-B of the said order.

However, the order was put on hold late on the same evening. As per the sources in the government, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa was apprised by a couple of politicians from the district of the COVID-19 situation in Kalaburagi and convinced him of the need to continue Mr. Sharat in the post for continuing the efforts for containment of the deadly disease. It is learnt that Mr. Sharat’s transfer order was put on hold upon the oral directions from the Chief Minister.

Soon after the transfer order was issued, former Minister and Congress leader Priyank Kharge, in a tweet, questioned the need of transferring an officer at the time of COVID-19. He also questioned why the Chief Minister had not taken the opinions of local BJP MLAs before deciding on the transfer of the officer.

Mr. Sharat had widely been appreciated by the public for his hard work for the successful organisation of 85th Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelana held in Kalaburagi in the first week of February this year. His efforts to contain COVID-19 in the district that had reported India’s first casualty and continued to register considerable positive cases almost on a daily basis was also commended. However, he, in the course of the battle against COVID-19, strained his relationships with a few local politicians who thought that they were not taken into consideration in the fight against the disease. A few journalists had also complained to Deputy Chief Minister and Kalaburagi district in-charge Govind Karjol of improper information about COVID-19 being provided by the district administration.