Reputed civil servant and one of the significant faces in the administrative arena, U Sagayam IAS has applied for the VRS (Voluntary Retirement Scheme) to the government seeking to release him from the duties and services, while he still has got three years left to mark his actual retirement period. 

The sudden development of the bureaucrat's decision to retire from the services had occupied the headlines and stirred the debates and speculations on why he has sought the government to release him from the services and what's the reason behind it. Sagayam has been a reputed civil servant and well known across and beyond the state for his effective and tenacious leadership, his service to the people, and his administration and services that he rendered to the nation. 

Sagayam has earned an immense reputation from the state for his leadership and audacity to stand against corruption regardless of his post. In over three decades of his civil service, Sagayam has been known for his anti-corruption campaign and activities and he had strongly spoken about how corruption erodes society and justice. Throughout his career, he has got transferred nearly thirty times and held various potent posts in the Tamil Nadu government. 

Being accredited as the common man's collector and inspiration for many civil service aspirants across and beyond the state, Sagayam had stood with his commitment to defusing corruption and bribes in whichever office he had held. After clearing the Civil Services Examination, he had started his civil service in 1989 and he was largely known for his role as the District Collector of Madurai. 

During his term as the Madurai District Collector, Sagayam had unearthed the unprecedented Granite scam that had shocked the state. The scam had a direct involvement of many biggies and politicians. In May 2012, Sagayam investigated reports of illegal granite quarrying in Madurai which exhumed several revelations against the political leaders. He had unearthed the scam that is worth Rs 16,000 crore and days later, he was transferred from his position and appointed as the managing director of Co-Optex.

As the managing director, he filed a complaint against the ADMK members for assaulting one of the managers of Co-Optex and when ADMK Minister in-charge of the organization Gokula Indira had opposed Sagayam and asked to withdraw the complaint, the bureaucrat had stood with the complaint following which he has again got transferred from his post in September 2014 and first he was appointed as the Commissioner of Indian Medicine and Homeopathy and two days later, he was appointed as the vice-chairman of Science City in Chennai. 

Since then, he has been serving as the Vice-Chairman of Science City for the past six years, while some of his juniors had got elevated to higher and powerful posts. In general exercise, the IAS officer would be transferred to other posts every three years, however, Sagayam has been kept in the same position for over six years. According to reports, Sagayam thought that he has been neglected and avoided by the government and he wasn't given any important posts and responsibilities for the past six years. 

Recently, the Tamil Nadu state government had deputed some of the most senior IAS officers across the state to review and take stock of the COVID-19 situation in every district. However, being one of the most senior bureaucrats, Sagayam was not included in this deployment following which he voluntarily got on the grounds with the activists and volunteers to help the affected people due to the pandemic and lockdown. 

Sagayam is the first IAS officer to publicly disclose his assets and now he has applied for the VRS from the service when he has three years left for the actual retirement. The reports say that he has come to the decision of retiring from the service due to the government's continuous avoidance of providing him an important post and keeping him in an insignificant post for six years. 

According to reports, if the government accepts his VRS application, Sagayam would be released from the duties in two months and he has been planning to continue his campaign against corruption and to serve society through his 'Makkal Pathai', a non-profit organization that he founded with the vision of building an honest Tamil society.