V. K. Rao

Valluri Kameswara Rao (15 July 1914 – 27 November 2018) was an Indian Civil Service officer and Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh, and the oldest living officer of the Indian Civil Service at the time of his death. He served in the civil service of the British Raj as a collector and magistrate. After Independence Rao joined the Indian government's finance department and transferred into the newly founded Indian Administrative Service. He transferred to Andhra State after it was founded in 1953. After the founding of Andhra Pradesh in 1956 Rao became that state's first secretary of public works. He later served the central government on the Planning Commission before returning to Andhra Pradesh as its chief secretary. Rao was principal secretary to the President of India Neelam Sanjiva Reddy from 1981 to 1982.

Early life and career Rao was born in a small village in the Godavari District of the Madras Presidency, the present-day East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh. At his father's insistence, he then sat the Indian Civil Service examinations in London, succeeding on his second attempt. He was appointed to the ICS (on probation) on 29 September 1937,

Arriving in India in October 1938, Rao was initially posted to Midnapore in the Bengal Presidency (now in West Bengal) as an assistant collector and magistrate, and was appointed district collector of Visakhapatnam district on 29 April 1950. He received further appointments as a deputy secretary (public department) on 15 April 1953 and as deputy secretary (Andhra Affairs) on 12 August 1953. Ahead of the formation of the new state of Andhra Pradesh in 1956, Rao was transferred to the Andhra State cadre of IAS officers on 1 October 1953, was promoted to secretary of the Finance Department of Andhra Pradesh from the same date, and was appointed the first secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Public Works Department upon the formation of the new state on 1 November 1956. and then as Principal Secretary to the President of India, N. Sanjiva Reddy, from 1981 to 1982. He continued to live in Hyderabad until his death in November 2018 at the age of 104.