IAS officer Parampal Kaur’s resignation not accepted: CM; Centre differs

Tribune News Service

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, April 11

In a major embarrassment to the Punjab Government, the Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India, accepted the resignation of Parampal Kaur and she has been relieved from April 10. This was done without taking the state government into confidence.

Punjab’s Aam Aadmi Party government too dug in its heels, claiming that the Centre was “usurping the powers of the state” by accepting her resignation without taking its consent. “It is an attack on the federal structure of the country,” a spokesperson of the Punjab Chief Minister’s Office said.

Follow procedure

The speed with which you became an IAS officer, you should know that the procedure has to be followed to leave service. You should understand these procedures or you will endanger losing your life’s earnings. —Bhagwant Mann, CM

Parampal joined the BJP today and is tipped to be the party’s candidate from the Bathinda Lok Sabha constituency, where three-time MP and Akali leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal will also be defending her seat.

Within an hour of her joining the BJP, along with her husband Gurpreet Singh, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, unaware of her premature retirement being accepted, went to the extent of “cautioning her that her application seeking retirement has not been accepted and that she might lose her life’s earnings”.

Parampal Kaur, a 2011 batch IAS officer, had sought premature retirement from service earlier this month. She had applied for the voluntary retirement to the state government and sent her resignation to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Government of India.

Sources in the government say that the DoPT has residuary powers, which means that in case of a dispute between the Centre and the state government over an All-India Services officer, the writ of the Centre will prevail. “My resignation has been accepted and I have been relieved from service,” Parampal Kaur told The Tribune.

As state government officials realised that the officer had been relieved from service, top officials went into a huddle to “legally examine” the case. The state government was examining the rules for accepting the VRS wherein it was mandatory to get clearance from the state Vigilance and also no-dues clearance.

“This was yet to be done. She had applied for the VRS, seeking waiver of three-month notice period and did not resign. The Section 16 (2) of All-India Services (Death-cum-Retirement) Rules, 1958, specifies that the competent authority to grant or deny benefits is the state government. The file is still is with CM and yet to be approved. Then how come the Centre decides on her resignation. The guidelines for processing resignation clearly states that the Centre can only accept the resignation after obtaining the recommendation from the cadre concerned,” said a senior official in the CMO.

Parampal is the daughter-in-law of senior Akali leader Sikandar Singh Maluka.

Today, CM Mann announced on X that her resignation was not accepted by the government. “The speed with which you became IAS officer, you should know that the procedure has to be followed to leave service. You should understand these procedures or you would endanger losing your life’s earnings,” he announced on X.

Kaur was initially a Block Development and Panchayat Officer, who was nominated in the elite civil services in 2015, when the Akali-BJP government was in power. She was also posted in the School Education Department, when Maluka was the Education Minister of Punjab. She was last posted as MD of the Punjab State Industries Development Corporation and was to retire from service in October this year.

‘Union govt’s will to prevail’

Sources say that the Department of Personnel and Training, Govt of India, has residuary powers, which means that in case of a dispute between the Centre and the state government over an All-India Services officer, the writ of the Centre will prevail

About The Author

Tribune News Service

The Tribune News Service brings you the latest news, analysis and insights from the region, India and around the world. Follow the Tribune News Service for a wide-ranging coverage of events as they unfold, with perspective and clarity.

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.