New Delhi, March 29 -- Senior IAS officer Sujata Rout Karthikeyan, wife of BJD leader VK Pandian, has taken voluntary retirement.

She has steered Odisha government's Mission Shakti for many years to empower lakhs of women and made strong efforts to ease life of people, including boosting school education in Naxal-affected areas in her initial years as an administrator.

The central government on Friday approved Sujata Karthikeyan's application of voluntary retirement and asked the Odisha government to issue the necessary notification.

Pandian is former secretary of Odisha's ST department. He had also opted for VRS before joining the BJD.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from MINT....