Pb govt says Chief Principal Secy to CM has not resigned

The Punjab government on Saturday said that Suresh Kumar, Chief Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had resigned from his post.

"Reports appearing in certain sections of the media regarding the tendering of resignation by Suresh Kumar, Chief Principal Secretary to Chief Minister are not correct. There has been no tendering of resignation, so the question of its acceptance does not arise," the state government said Twitter.

The clarification from the state government has come in the wake of media reports claiming that Kumar had tendered his resignation to take up an assignment in the Central government.

The reports further alleged that the senior officer had exited a WhatsApp group of Punjab officers with a "goodbye" message fuelling speculation that his resignation had been accepted.

A 1983-batch IAS officer, Kumar was handpicked by Singh after coming to power in 2017. Kumar had retired in 2016 from the post of Additional Chief Secretary.

Kumar has been instrumental in framing Congress-led government's flagship programmes like farm debt waiver, 'Ghar Ghar Rozgar Yojana' and 'Sarb Sehat Bima Yojana'.

His post was challenged in Punjab and Haryana High court last year and there were reports that he was not happy with the state government for not effectively handling his case in the court.

In January last year, a single bench of the high court had set aside the appointment of Kumar as the chief principal secretary to the Punjab Chief Minister.

Later, the state government had challenged the verdict of the single bench before the division bench which stayed the judgement and this case was still in the court.

Kumar had served at many positions in the state as well as at the Centre on deputation. He had also served as principal secretary to the chief minister during Singh's previous tenure of 2002-2007.