Sujata Karthikeyan, Wife Of VK Pandian, Joins Duty After Odisha Govt Rejects Her CCL Extension Plea

Bhubaneswar, Nov 27: Senior IAS officer Sujata Karthikeyan, wife of former top bureaucrat VK Pandian, has resumed her duty Wednesday.

Sujata, who holds the post of special secretary to the government (Finance department), has sought an extension of CCL for six months through a letter November 4.

However, the Odisha government rejected her plea Tuesday while, the General Administration and Public Grievances Department has also directed Sujata to join the services Wednesday.

“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, Sujata's husband VK Pandian announced retirement from active politics in June this year.

The bureaucrat-turned-politician 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 Odisha.

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.