An IAS officer of 1987 batch and former Chief Secretary of Tripura, LK Gupta has decided to take voluntary retirement and leave the state.

Gupta had taken charge as the Tripura Chief Secretary on September 27, 2019.

According to reports, after the last Lok Sabha elections, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb-led Tripura government removed him as the Chief Secretary unceremoniously and appointed as the Director General (DG) of the State Institute of Public Administration and Rural Development (SIPARD).

Gupta has already applied for voluntary retirement with effect from October 1, 2019.

Before taking charge as the Chief Secretary, Gupta was serving as an additional chief secretary

Gupta started his career as the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) of Amarpur.

The Tripura government removing Gupta from the top post of the administration appointed Principal Secretary Manoj Kumar as the interim charge of Chief Secretary.

On June 10, the Tripura government appointed Usurupati Venkateswarlu, an IAS officer of 1986 batch, who was serving as the additional Chief Secretary to the Governor, as the new Chief Secretary.

As per media reports, another secretary level IAS officer – Y. Kumar – had taken voluntary retirement during the last days of previous Left Front government in Tripura.

Reports quoted sources in the administration as saying that many other senior officers of Tripura-Manipur cadre, currently posted in Delhi, also want to go for voluntary retirement.

These officers are also reportedly not in a mood to come back to Tripura.