Odisha govt rejects IAS Sujata Karthikeyan's CCL extension plea

Bhubaneswar, Nov 26 In a major development, the state government on Tuesday rejected the plea of senior IAS officer and wife of former top bureaucrat VK Pandian, Sujata R Karthikeyan seeking an extension of CCL for six more months.

The General Administration and Public Grievances Department has also directed Sujata, a 2000-batch Odisha cadre IAS officer, to join the services on Wednesday.

Sujata who currently holds the post of special secretary to the government (Finance department) has sought the extension through a letter on November 4.

“I am directed to invite a reference to your letter dtd. 04.11.2024 on the subject cited above and to say that after careful consideration, your leave application for extension of Child Care Leave for a further period of 6 months w.e.f. 27.11.2024 is not acceded to. You are, therefore, requested to join on 27.11.2024 i.e. after availing of the CCL from 31.05.2024 to 26.11.2024,” wrote Manoj Kumar Mohanty, additional secretary GA&PG department.

After BJD suffered a humiliating defeat in the 2024 general elections, the bureaucrat-turned-politician VK Pandian announced retirement from active politics in June this year. He was in the line of fire after BJD’s crushing defeat in the 2024 elections which ended ex-Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s 24-year rule in the state.

As per reports, the Election Commission of India (ECI) had earlier ordered the transfer of Sujata, from the post of secretary to the Mission Shakti department in Odisha to a “non-public facing department” ahead of the general elections in May this year.

Later, she went on leave for almost a month after she was removed from the post of secretary, at Mission Shakti.

In June this year, the GA&PG department allowed Sujata to remain on leave till November 26 to care for her daughter, who is appearing for the class 10 exams.