IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, whose suspension by the Uttar Pradesh government in July 2013 triggered nationwide outrage, met UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav along with her husband Abhishek Singh on Saturday. This was her first meeting with the chef minister since her suspension.
Sources said that a formal announcement of her suspension being revoked could be made now and she could be given a new posting.
It may be recalled that the state government had quietly revoked Ms Nagpal’s suspension last week, on the eve of the UP Assembly session but the decision had not been made public.
The 2009-batch officer, who was posted as sub-divisional magistrate in Gautam Buddh Nagar, was suspended on July 27 for allegedly ordering the demolition of a mosque being built illegally on government land.
The real reason for her suspension was her confrontation with the sand mafia in the district which includes some top Samajwadi leaders.
The UP and Central IAS Association had taken up the case of Ms Nagpal and even the Prime Minister had intervened in the matter after UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi wrote him a letter on the issue.
Last month, Ms Nagpal had met the chief minister’s father and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav to explain her stand to him.
Her reinstatement got delayed as the UP government did not wish to be seen as backtracking on its stand and cited “discrepancies” in her reply to the chargesheet served to her.
Ms Nagpal is presently attached to the Board of Revenue and is now likely to be given a new posting.