Bengaluru: IAS officer Subhash Chandra Khuntia may succeed Aravind Jadhav as the next Karnataka Chief Secretary.

According to sources, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is trying his best to select a successor for the top post in state bureaucracy after falling into a tight spot after Chief Secretary Aravind Jadhav got involved in a land row. Though Upendra Tripathy is the senior most IAS officer in the state, the fact that he is set to retire next month has forced the CM to overlook him for the post.

Additional Chief Secretaries Ratna Prabha and SK Pattanayak are also in the reckoning. While Ratna Prabha and Khuntia are from the 1981 IAS batch, Pattanayak is one year junior. It is said that Siddaramaiah has made up his mind to get Khuntia for the post. Khuntia is presently with the HRD ministry.

According to sources, the state government has already written to the Department of Personnel and Training of the Union government requesting to relieve Khuntia from Central deputation.