Sujata’s VRS was approved a day after the Odisha government forwarded her application, which was submitted on March 13, 2025. The central government accepted her VRS with retrospective effect i.e. from March 13, 2025 waiving the mandatory three-month notice period. 

It may be underlined that Sujata was serving as the Special Secretary in the Finance Department. Under Naveen Patnaik Pandian served as Secretary to the CM. His peers in service considered and termed him the super CM as well as a super chief secretary. He served the state through the then CM with an absolute dedication rather in the role of alter ego of Patnaik. 

Right ahead of Odisha Assembly elections Pandian, Sujata’s husband, applied for VRS and formally joined the BJD with a Cabinet rank. He applied for VRS and Centre accepted it with lightning speed on October 23, 2023.  

The kind of influence he wielded in Odisha could be understood from the instances in the public domain that at least two Chief Secretaries of Odisha, reportedly, got the opportunity to see the CM just twice during their tenure as head of the administration of the state; once while joining the office and again while hanging boots as CS. His functioning made even Prime Minister Narendra Modi curious to know about him during his Bhubaneshwar visit during Naveen Babu’s regime. 

Change is the only constant. Things changed with the change of regime in the state and apparently things started turning a little tough for Sujata. While serving as Special Secretary (Finance) in Odisha she initially availed six months’ leave immediately after the debacle of the BJD in the 2024 Assembly elections. She had again applied for an extension of her leave for another six months which was denied. She was asked by the new regime to join her duties, a day after the Mohan Majhi-led Odisha government rejected her leave extension application. She was on child care leave as her daughter was appearing for board examinations. Finally, she opted for VRS bidding good-bye to the service.