Praveen Kumar (administrator)

For other individuals with the same name, see Praveen Kumar (disambiguation)

Praveen Kumar is the Chief Electoral Officer of The INDIAN state of Tamil Nadu.

Early life and education

Praveen Kumar is from Hazaribag in Jharkhand. He matriculated from St. Xavier's School, Hazaribag, in 1977. He received undergraduate and postgraduate degress in Metallurgy from IIT Kanpur. He also received M. Phil degree in Social Science from Punjab University. He is from the 1987 batch of Indian Administrative Officer. He is married to Anitha Praveenkumar.

Career

He began his IAS career in Tamil Nadu. He started as Assistant Collector in Training in Salem district in 1988. During 1989-1991, he worked in Thanjavur district as Sub-Collector, Settlement Officer and Additional Collector.

He worked as Joint Resident Commissioner in the Tamil Nadu House in New Delhi from 1992-1994 and Controller of Examinations of the Tamil Nadu Public Services Commission in 1994-1996. He became Villupuram district Collector in 1996. In 1997, he became Additional Secretary in the Industries Department in Tamil Nadu.

In 2001, he went to work for the Union government. He was appointed as the Director in the Department Of Elementary Education and Literacy of the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development.

In 2007, he returned to Tamil Nadu to serve in the State government as Special Secretary in the Finance department. He became Chief Electoral Officer of Tamil Nadu in 2010.

2011 Tamil Nadu election

He was widely commended for conducting the 2011 Tamil Nadu election in a free and fair manner. Incidences of milk abhishekam to his poster in Avaniapuram in Madurai was reported after the elections results were declared.