Sabharwal’s transfer comes even as she was overseeing the grand preparations for the Miss World pageant, which Telangana is set to host in May. On 31 March, Sabharwal had reposted a post by an X handle ‘Hi Hyderabad’, which was a ‘Ghibli-style’ AI-generated image, depicting JCBs lined up at the site with a pair of deer and a peacock supposedly looking on helplessly. Hyderabad: Days after she posted a message on X viewed as critical of her government’s deforestation drive at the disputed Kancha Gachibowli-Hyderabad Central University lands, IAS officer Smita Sabharwal has been shunted from her role as secretary of Telangana’s youth advancement, tourism & culture department. Senior IAS officer Jayesh Ranjan (1992) has now been given charge of the department. Sabharwal’s shift, however, was part of the transfers and postings order pertaining to 20 IAS officers issued by outgoing chief secretary A. Santhi Kumari Sunday. The 2001-batch officer has now been posted as Member Secretary of the Telangana Finance Commission—a loop-line posting she was previously assigned to after the Revanth Reddy-led Congress government took charge in December 2023. Such “castigatory” action was anticipated in the political and bureaucratic circles, since Sabharwal, a prominent officer in Telangana, was served notices by the Cyberabad police in connection with the X post. Currently in the crosshairs of the Congress government, Sabharwal was once regarded as a blue-eyed officer of the erstwhile K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) administration, serving in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) from 2014 to 2023, spanning the Bharat Rashtra Samithi’s (BRS) two terms. She also held charge of the important irrigation department, oversaw the BRS’s ambitious drinking water scheme Mission Bhagiratha, and monitored work on the controversial Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project. “She was rehabilitated last November by CM Revanth with a respectable tourism, culture department, but with her unnecessary dissent and confrontational stance, unusual in bureaucracy, Sabharwal has ruffled feathers in the state power corridors. She herself has invited the trouble,” one IAS officer told ThePrint. The Cyberabad police served notices to Sabharwal on 12 April for questioning in connection with the Ghibli-style image she had reposted at the height of the protests led by university students—and backed by the BJP, BRS, and civil society groups—against the state’s move to erase the rich, wildlife-inhabited forest cover for the IT sector’s growth. The Telangana Police’s action followed CM Revanth Reddy taking a serious view of AI-generated fake content circulating on social media, which his office said was intended to “mislead the society and malign the government’s image” over the Kancha Gachibowli land issue. Smita’s repost was seen as a critique of the tree-felling and levelling of land—once under HCU’s control—being undertaken by the Revanth Reddy government, until the Supreme Court halted the exercise earlier this month. Refusing to back down, Sabharwal on X said she has “fully cooperated with the Gachibowli police” providing a detailed statement “as a law-abiding citizen”, but at the same time, raised “concern about selective targeting”. “The post was reshared by 2000 individuals on this platform. I sought clarification on whether the same action is initiated for all! If not, this raises concern about selective targeting, that in turn compromises the #principles of #natural justice and equality before the Law,” Sabharwal, wrote on X last week, with the hashtags #RuleofLaw #FreedomOfSpeech and #justsaying. Also read: AP-Telangana IAS, IPS cadre dilemma: ‘We’re ping-pong balls,’ officers say, as CAT reverses Centre order An outspoken IAS officer Smita is married to Telangana cadre IPS officer Akun Sabharwal, who is at present on central deputation as an inspector general, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). This is not the first time the outspoken IAS officer’s views on social media gained national attention and attracted some strong political reactions too. Very active on social media, Sabharwal, with a bluetick verified X account, describes herself as an “IAS officer” and an “Army brat”. She stoked a controversy in August 2022, when she spoke out against the release of the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano rape case. The views were seen as reflecting the ruling party BRS stand, which was at loggerheads with the BJP at the time. Back then, BJP leaders took objection to the civil servant’s statements, questioning her silence on the bail given to the culprits in the Jubilee Hills minor gangrape and other such cases in Telangana. In July last year, Sabharwal drew strong reaction from across all walks of life, especially those from disability groups, for questioning the need for reservation for persons with disabilities (PwDs) in the All-India Services (AIS). The controversial statement came at a time when in addition to IAS probationer Puja Khedkar, some cases of IAS officers allegedly faking disability documents to enter the service had come to the fore. “With all due respect to the differently abled. Does an airline hire a pilot with a disability? Or would you trust a surgeon with a disability. The nature of the AIS (IAS, IPS, IFoS) is field work, long taxing hours, listening first hand to people’s grievances – which requires physical fitness,” she said on X. “Why does this premier service need this quota in the first place!” Last year, Sabharwal, along with others like former chief secretary Somesh Kumar, former special chief secretary (irrigation) Rajat Kumar appeared before the Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose Commission probing the alleged corruption and irregularities in the planning and execution of the Rs 1 lakh crore Kaleshwaram project under KCR. A retired IAS officer, speaking to ThePrint, said that not just transfer, “Smita should face disciplinary action for habitually violating the AIS officers’ conduct rules.” (Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri) Also Read: Bilkis Bano to Gachibowli, Telangana IAS Smita Sabharwal has ruffled feathers before too