Punjab govt turns down IAS Sidhu's request for VRS for 'falsifying' grounds

The Punjab government has turned down IAS officer Parampal Kaur Sidhu's request for voluntary retirement for allegedly "falsifying" her grounds and asked her to resume her duties immediately.

The development comes days after the Centre's Department of Personnel and Training formally relieved her after accepting her resignation.

A 2011-batch IAS officer, Sidhu, who is contesting the Bathinda parliamentary constituency on a BJP ticket, had put in her papers last month, requesting that the condition of a three-month notice period also be waived.

Later, she joined the BJP in Delhi.

Sidhu is the daughter-in-law of Akali Dal leader Sikandar Singh Maluka.

After she joined the BJP on April 11, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said that the state government had not accepted her resignation as an IAS officer.

At the latest, Sidhu was posted as the managing director of the Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation.

According to a communication from the state personnel department to Sidhu, the waiving of the notice period can only be given by the state government and that too if it is satisfied with the reasons recorded in writing.

The communication pointed out that Sidhu had also written directly to the Centre on April 7 for the acceptance of her application for VRS.