After Filing for VRS, ITS Officer Sushil Kumar Withdraws the Notice

The Department of Telecommunications has accepted the request of Sushil Kumar to withdraw his notice for voluntary retirement with effect from July 31, 2026. He is an Indian Telecommunication Service officer currently posted as Principal General Manager at BSNL.

The Indian Telecommunication Service is the specialised technical cadre that staffs senior positions across the Department of Telecommunications and its public sector arms, including BSNL, where ITS officers typically hold general management and technical leadership roles overseeing circle-level and functional operations, ranging from network planning to revenue and customer service functions within the state-run operator's restructured hierarchy.

Kumar's decision to withdraw a voluntary retirement notice, rather than proceed with an already-filed VRS application, is procedurally distinct from a fresh retirement filing and requires departmental acceptance before an officer can continue in service beyond the date originally set for retirement, a process that typically involves the DoT's establishment wing verifying that no administrative or financial commitments tied to the original retirement date remain unresolved. The department also typically checks that no successor has already been formally identified or moved into the post the retiring officer was due to vacate, since an accepted withdrawal effectively reverses staffing decisions that may already be in motion elsewhere in the cadre.

His current posting as Principal General Manager places him in one of BSNL's senior operational roles, a position that carries responsibility for a defined functional or circle-level charge within the state-run telecom operator's restructured management hierarchy, one that has been undergoing sustained organisational change as BSNL works through its 4G rollout and network modernisation programme.

Withdrawal of VRS notices, while uncommon, does occur periodically within technical services such as the ITS, typically where an officer reconsiders retirement plans before the notice period lapses, requiring the department's formal sign-off to keep them in service, and such reversals are more often seen in technical cadres where specific project or operational responsibilities can factor into an officer's decision to continue. The government has, in recent years, also encouraged such withdrawals in cases where an officer's continued presence is considered administratively useful, particularly in organisations like BSNL that have faced sustained pressure to retain experienced technical hands through a demanding modernisation phase.

With the withdrawal accepted, Kumar continues in his Principal General Manager posting at BSNL without the interruption that his earlier retirement filing would have triggered, keeping continuity in the role he currently holds at a time when BSNL's management capacity at the senior officer level remains a recurring concern amid the company's ongoing revival efforts. Continuity at the Principal General Manager level matters in particular for circles or functions midway through modernisation projects, where a change in leadership can slow decisions on vendor coordination and rollout schedules.

The Department of Telecommunications' acceptance order formalises the withdrawal with effect from July 31, 2026, the date his retirement would otherwise have taken effect. The DoT's establishment wing is expected to update its service records to reflect the withdrawal, ensuring Kumar's seniority and pension calculations proceed as though the VRS notice had never been filed.