BHUBANESWAR: Senior IAS officer and special secretary in the Finance department Sujata Karthikeyan, who is the wife of BJD leader VK Pandian, proceeded on a six-month leave on Friday.
According to a notification issued by the General Administration department, the IAS officer has been granted ‘childcare’ leave for a period of six months from May 31 to November 26 as her daughter is appearing for the Class X examinations.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on May 2 had ordered shifting of Sujata from the post of secretary in the Mission Shakti department.
The ECI had ordered for her transfer to a non-public dealing department hours after a delegation of BJP’s central leaders submitted a memorandum accusing the IAS officer of working as an agent of the ruling BJD in the state.
Meanwhile, advocate general (AG) Ashok Kumar Parija has resigned from his post following the poll debacle of the BJD. Government advocate Jyoti Prakash Pattnaik has been appointed as the in-charge AG.
The BJD government had appointed Parija as the AG in 2019. Besides, BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty also resigned as the chairman of the Odisha Tourism Development Corporation on Friday.
Earlier, retired IAS officers and chief advisor in the chief minister’s office (CMO) Suresh Chandra Mahapatra and chief advisor, special initiatives R Balakrishnan submitted their resignation on Thursday.