Bhubaneswar: Senior Odisha cadre IAS officer Sujata Karthikeyan, wife of former bureaucrat V K Pandian, has reportedly taken voluntary retirement from service (VRS).
She had submitted her application for VRS to the central government on March 13 and it was approved on Friday (March 28).
In an official letter to the Odisha Chief Secretary, the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pensions confirmed having accepted her request for voluntary retirement from service will take effect from March 13. The central government has also waived off the mandatory three-month notice period.
Sujata was serving as the Special Secretary in the Odisha Finance Department. She had resumed duty after remaining on child care leave (CCL) for six months from May 31, last year, a day before the last phase of polling in the 2024 election in Odisha.
It may be noted that the Odisha government in November 2024 declined her application for a six-month extension of CCL, asking her to resume duties immediately.
Her husband V K Pandian, also a former IAS officer, had taken VRS in 2023 and subsequently joined the BJD. He is considered a close aide of BJD president and former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The development has sparked speculation in political circles as it came after Naveen and Pandian were reportedly sighted at Coimbatore Airport in Tamil Nadu on Friday. Their visit to the southern state at a time when the Odisha Assembly is in session since Naveen happens to be the Leader of Opposition (LoP) is raising eyebrows.
Senior BJD leaders, including MLAs, were not in a position to share information about their party chief’s presence in Tamil Nadu during the Assembly session.
