Department of Space issued an internal memorandum to tighten the rules governing voluntary retirement and resignation of scientists associated with the Indian Space Research Organisation

Department of Space issued an internal memorandum to tighten the rules governing voluntary retirement and resignation of scientists associated with the Indian Space Research Organisation

¨     Department of Space (DoS) issued an internal memorandum on 14 July 2026 to tighten the rules governing voluntary retirement and resignation of scientists associated with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

¨     The directive applies to Group A scientific and technical personnel up to the Scientist/Engineer-SG level.

¨     It also covers personnel associated with critical missions, including Gaganyaan.

¨     The new order reverses the 2020 administrative arrangement under which directors of individual ISRO centres could approve voluntary retirement and resignation requests.

¨     Under the revised procedure, centre directors cannot approve such requests until critical projects are completed.

¨     All applications for voluntary retirement and resignation must now be forwarded to the Department of Space for final approval.

¨     The memorandum applies to scientists working in major ISRO centres and mission teams.

¨     The U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) and the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) are among the ISRO centres linked to the reported resignations.

¨     Scientists mentioned in the memorandum include Victor Joseph, former LVM-3 Project Director at VSSC.

¨     It also includes the SpaDeX Project Director from URSC.

¨     Aditya Rallapalli, who served as the Chandrayaan-3 Project Manager for Simulations, is also among the named personnel.

¨     The revised policy aims to ensure continuity of strategic and mission-critical space programmes by retaining key scientific personnel until the completion of important projects.