‘Government is free to take action…I’m not going to join’: Punjab IAS officer questions notice asking her to resume duty

“A retired person can have some plans in his/her life…I am not a slave of the government for my whole life. Once I have retired, what is the government’s concern with me?” she added.

“Ever since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has come into power, every month, a few IAS officers remain without postings…even now there are officers (without postings). So how can they justify that there is a shortage of officers? I will send an appropriate reply to the notice… it has been issued to waste the time of the candidate who is busy campaigning and has to file nominations,” Sidhu told The Indian Express.

A 2011 batch officer, Sidhu, 59, has been involved in a run-in with the AAP government in Punjab since she resigned and sought Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) on April 3, nearly seven months before her retirement. She subsequently joined the BJP on April 11 and was declared the party candidate from Bathinda on April 16.

However, the Punjab government has refused to accept her resignation. In a post on X after she joined the BJP, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann reminded Sidhu that there was “a procedure to resign” and how her “lifelong earnings could be jeopardised”.

Sidhu said she had clearly stated her reasons for applying for VRS. “I had mentioned that my mother is unwell and I want to shift to Bathinda to spend time with her. I have already shifted to Bathinda. In addition, I had mentioned that I have some other plans in my life. I did not consider it important to explain each and every thing to them,” she said.

In April, the Centre intervened with a letter stating that the Government of India, as the recruitment authority, had accepted her resignation. The Punjab government, however, said that it had not waived the three-month notice period and cited a staff shortage problem.

“In April, an IAS officer resigned as he was not given any posting for months together. There are so many officers who do not have a posting even now…for reasons best known to the government. Such a trend has started in this AAP government only. So the staff shortage reason sounds strange to me,” Sidhu said.

Karnail Singh, a 2015 batch IAS officer, had resigned a week after Sidhu. He had not received a posting for months. His resignation is yet to be accepted. IAS officers Rahul Bhandari and Rajeev Gupta, from the 1997 and 2014 batches, respectively, are also awaiting postings.

Sidhu is the daughter-in-law of senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Sikander Singh Maluka. When she resigned, Sidhu was the managing director of the Punjab State Industrial and Development Corporation.