Bedi to go on 'long leave' from Monday

NEW DELHI: Kiran Bedi, country's first IPS officer, has decided go on "long leave" from Monday, apparently to put pressure on the government to take a decision on her application for voluntary retirement made a month ago.
   
Sulking after being ignored for Delhi Police Commissioner's post earlier this year, Bedi has made it clear that she is not willing to work "for the government" anymore and that the decision to go on leave is to ensure that her successor is appointed at the earliest.

"I have sought long leave from Monday till the day of the expiry of the notice period which is February 15. The long leave asked for is to help expedite the appointment of my successor," Bedi, Director General of Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), told.

"The request for leave is already with the government. I am awaiting sanction for leave or acceptance of my application for VRS whatever comes first," she said.
   
The 58-year-old Magsaysay Awardee wrote to the government on November 15 seeking VRS, apparently disappointed with the government, especially in the backdrop of denial of the top police job in Delhi in July.
  
In her application to the Union Home Ministry, the 1972-batch officer has said she wanted to quit the service because of her "strong academic and social interest".
   
Government yesterday indicated that it would continue to avail of the services of the country's Bedi, without clearly stating what it intended to do with her VRS application.

"We have decided to put a big new responsibility on your shoulders and that means anchoring the National Police Mission in the BPRD despite the reservations raised by Bedi with reference to the staff constraints and other matters," Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta said turning to Bedi at a BPR&D function here.
   
Hours later, she said she "now looks forward to working 'with' the government and not 'for' the government".
   
"The irony is if I was dispensable for a particular position, I can surely be dispensable for this one too," Bedi said in an apparent reference to the appointment of Y S Dadwal as Delhi Police Commissioner overlooking her candidature.
   
Bedi said she was waiting till now because of the BPR&D Foundation Day on Wednesday.