Retired bureaucrat Suresh Kumar has resumed duties as the Chief Principal Secretary (CPS) to Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday afternoon.
With his appointment still under judicial scanner, Kumar has been insisting to wait for the final order before rejoining the office. However, sources told The Pioneer that Capt Amarinder wanted Kumar to resume his work at the earliest.
A Single Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court had quashed Kumar’s appointment as unconstitutional, after which the former IAS has all along been saying that he was “out of the government now”. It has been learnt that Kumar has informed Capt Amarinder about his detractors within the government who are playing foul games against him.
At many occasions, he had even maintained that he would not be joining the Punjab Government now, especially with his detractors present in the government. But with Capt Amarinder’s repeated persistence, Kumar has joined resumed his duties after the High Court’s Division Bench stayed the Single Bench order quashing his appointment.
Notably, Chief Minister had twice visited Kumar’s Sector 16 residence after quashing of his appointment as Chief Principal Secretary. Capt Amarinder had, in fact, made it amply clear that he would be an integral part of his team till he was the Chief Minister.
To argue the state’s petition challenging Single Bench’s order, Capt Amarinder brought in former Union Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram despite having a full-fledged team of law officers, headed by Advocate-General Atul Nanda — signifying Kumar’s importance.
Capt Amarinder has given vital powers to Kumar, and acted as a key link between the Chief Minister’s Office and other ministries as well as the CMO and the Central Government.