Seeram Sambasiva Rao appointed as new Excise Commissioner

The Kerala government has appointed IAS officer Seeram Sambasiva Rao as the new Excise Commissioner.

Mr. Rao served as an officer on special duty under former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The 2012 batch IAS officer in the Kerala cadre will continue to carry all the existing additional charges in addition to his new responsibility as per the government order.

Notably, the appointment marks a return to the practice of placing IAS officers on the post of Excise Commissioner, a position held by IPS officers since 2016.

The development is based on a recent directive by the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) which considered a petition by the Kerala IAS Association seeking a declaration that the posts notified by the Union government as belonging to the Kerala IAS cadre must be filled only by serving IAS officers.

Subsequently, the Tribunal ruled that key posts including Commissioner of Excise, Director of Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA) and Director General of Institute of Management in Government (IMG) are IAS cadre posts and can only be held by serving IAS officers.

As a result, Additional Director General of Police MR Ajith Kumar has been removed from the post of Excise Commissioner.

Published – 1 Jun 2026 20:51 IST