In what may be seen as a subtle, or not so subtle act of rebellion, Sabharwal is reposting messages in her support. On Thursday, she shared a post by a journalist that carried her photograph and a message: “Each time a woman stands up for herself, she stands up for all women – Maya Angelou.”
Each time a woman stands up for herself, she stands up for all women – Maya Angelou pic.twitter.com/u80m9EBbY1
— Sarita Avula (@SaritaAvula) April 17, 2025
Another one she shared the same day listed seven of her “achievements”.
Achievements of @SmitaSabharwal
2011: She launched “Ammalalana” in Karimnagar, boosting institutional deliveries and earning a Prime Minister’s Award nomination.
2012: Received the Chief Minister’s Award for Best District in Karimnagar for the 21 Point Flagship Programme.…
— SS Sagar (@SSsagarHyd) April 17, 2025
Her “unnecessary dissension” has also ruffled feathers in Telangana IAS circles. “She is becoming the queen of controversies in our cadre,” a woman IAS officer told ThePrint.
Sabharwal (47), is currently the secretary of Telangana’s tourism, culture and youth affairs department. She is also supervising arrangements for the grand Miss World pageant the state government is hosting next month.
On 12 April, the Telangana Police served her notices for sharing an X post seen as critical of the Reddy government’s tree-felling on a forested piece of land near Hyderabad Central University (HCU) to make way for the IT sector’s development. Despite massive protests from HCU students, the exercise continued until the Supreme Court ordered a halt.
The X post that is the bone of contention was a Ghibli-style AI-generated image, depicting JCBs lined up in front of the famous Mushroom Rock at the site, with a pair of deer and a peacock looking on helplessly.
The police reportedly plan to summon Sabharwal for questioning in connection with her repost on 31 March, at the height of the student protests—supported by the BJP, the BRS and civil society groups—against the Congress state government. The students have accused the government of attempting to destroy a rich, wildlife-inhabited forest cover.
The notices to Sabharwal came days after CM Reddy flagged AI content meant to “mislead society and malign the government’s image” in connection with the Kancha Gachibowli land matter.
Sabharwal did not respond to ThePrint’s calls for comment. This report will be updated if and when she responds.
‘Free speech, Telangana model’
Ever since the news about the notices served to her got out, Sabharwal has been firing off posts on social media. On Wednesday, she shared a news report about the Supreme Court directing the Telangana government to take immediate steps to protect wildlife affected by the deforestation move.
The same day, she re-shared a post lambasting the Telangana police action that said: “Free speech – Telangana model’.
FREE SPEECH – TELANGANA MODEL!
In probably a first, police booked a case against an IAS for a RETWEET!
Smitha Sabharwal, IAS, principal secretary of Youth Advancement, Tourism & Culture is the latest to be served notices by the Telangana police.
The Crime: She retweeted an… pic.twitter.com/5g5rTALYex
— Revathi (@revathitweets) April 16, 2025
Her social media posts have gotten a lot of attention earlier too, even drawing strong political reactions.
In her X bio, Sabharwal describes herself as ‘IAS officer, Army brat’.
In August 2022, she stoked a controversy speaking out against the release of the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano rape case.
“As a woman and a civil servant, I sit in disbelief, reading the news on the #BilkisBanoCase. We cannot snuff out her Right to breathe free without fear, again and call ourselves a free nation. #JusticeForBilkisBano,” she had posted on X while she was part of KCR’s CMO.
As a woman and a civil servant I sit in disbelief, on reading the news on the #BilkisBanoCase.
We cannot snuff out her Right to breathe free without fear, again and call ourselves a free nation. #JusticeForBilkisBano pic.twitter.com/NYL6YS59Gh— Smita Sabharwal (@SmitaSabharwal) August 18, 2022
Her views were seen as reflecting the stand of the BRS, at loggerheads with the BJP at the time.
Back then, BJP leaders had objected to the civil servant’s statements, questioning her silence on bail granted to the accused in the Jubilee Hills gangrape case.
Then in July last year, Sabharwal drew strong reactions for questioning the need for reservations for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) in the All-India Services (AIS).
Her statement came at the time of the Puja Khedkar controversy.
“As this debate is blowing up – 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,” Sabharwal wrote on X. “Why does this premier service need this quota in the first place!”
Former civil servant Bala Latha Mallavarapu, who runs a Hyderabad academy training AIS aspirants, had strongly criticised Sabharwal’s comments, calling her physically fit but “ethically disabled, mentally upset”.
Shiv Sena UBT’s Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi had also called Sabharwal’s views “pathetic and exclusionary”, while Supreme Court advocate Karuna Nundy said she was “fundamentally ignorant” on the matter.
Who is Smita Sabharwal
Sabharwal was born in 1977 to a Bengali family originally from Darjeeling. Her father Pranab Das was a colonel in the Army.
The family settled in Sainikpuri in Secunderabad, and Smita completed her school and college education there. The Telangana civil list shows she is a graduate in business law.
Sabharwal was among the toppers in the UPSC 2000 exam with an AIR rank of four. She entered the service as part of the undivided Andhra Pradesh cadre in 2001 at the age of 24.
She is married to Telangana cadre IPS officer Akun Sabharwal, who is at present on central deputation as an inspector general, ITBP. Earlier, during the BRS’s first term, Akun headed the investigation into the drugs scandal that rocked the Telugu film industry.
Smita Sabharwal herself held several prominent posts during the BRS’s two-term rule.
As a secretary in the CMO, she was associated with KCR’s office since June 2014 when Telangana was formed. She was in charge of the irrigation department, BRS’s ambitious drinking water scheme Mission Bhagiratha, and monitored the works of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project on the Godavari.
During KCR’s tenure, when then governor Tamilisai Soundararajan was accusing KCR of ill treatment for denying her a chopper to visit districts, Sabharwal’s helicopter trips to inspect the progress of water project works had become a thing of envy in bureaucratic circles.
In 2015, Sabharwal had filed a Rs 10 crore civil suit against Outlook Magazine over a caricature, supposedly of her, “walking a fashion show ramp with her political bosses leering at her”. She had then termed the text and caricature as “sexist” and “demoralising”.
The KCR government had even sanctioned Rs 15 lakh towards her legal expenses. In 2022, while hearing public interest litigations against the sanction, the Telangana High Court had ordered Sabharwal to repay the money, saying the expenditure cannot be seen as made for a public purpose.
‘Being frank not a trait desired in IAS officers’
“She is good, does not mean harm to anyone but the problem is her aloofness, refusing to mingle with colleagues too, which many a time is taken as arrogance. The perception only widened in the last 10 years when she was in KCR’s CMO,” another IAS officer told ThePrint.
After Revanth took over the state’s reins in December 2023, Sabharwal was posted as member secretary, Telangana State Finance Commission for around a year, in what was seen as a shunting post.
Last year, Sabharwal, along with others, appeared before the Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose Commission probing alleged irregularities in the planning and execution of the Rs 1 lakh crore Kaleshwaram project under KCR.
“Smita is efficient at her work but she should seriously start avoiding unnecessary controversies. Needless to say, her critical public statements on X etc., forums like the present one on Kancha Gachibowli irk the government heads. Plain speaking our opinions, that too publicly, is not a trait desired in us IAS officers,” remarked another senior officer.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
