Haryana’s Indian Administrative Officer (IAS) Ashok Khemka has been transferred for the 50th time in the last 24 years.
The 52-year-old bureaucrat is among the 13 officers who have been transferred by the Haryana government. He expressed his disappointment at the state government’s treatment toward his honest work, calling it ‘deja vu’.
So much work planned. News of another transfer. Crash landing again. Vested interests win. Déjà vu. But this is temporary.Will continue with renewed vigour and energy.
— Ashok Khemka (@AshokKhemka_IAS) November 12, 2017
Khemka has been transferred from the social justice and women empowerment department to youth and sports affairs department. He will now work under state sports minister Anil Vij.
Cause of transfer
India Today reports two reasons for Khemka’s transfer. One, he had expressed an objection to alleged nepotism by Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar on the eve of Diwali. He ridiculed the CM’s office for allowing special bonus to a personal staff.
Second, he apprehended his own boss, Krishna Bedi, over alleged misuse of a department vehicle for over a year.
Khemka’s fight against corruption
The 1991-batch IAS officer was the one responsible for cancelling Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law, Robert Vadra’s land deal with DLF in 2012. He had reported a corruption between Rs 20,000 crore to Rs 35,000 crore in illegal land deals.
His tryst with Congress isn’t unknown. When BJP came into power in 2014, it praised Khemka as an ‘upright officer’ and blamed the INC for targeting the IAS officer. The Union Cabinet secretary also made a recommendation to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to send him on a central deputation.
But the acclaim was as short-lived as BJP’s promise of ‘Achhe Din’.
The one who was used as a pawn by the then opposition against the ruling party, has time and again been harassed by the BJP-led government for corrupt politics.
In 2015, the ruling party indicted Khemka for allegedly having committed ‘procedural irregularities’ during his tenure as the managing director of the Haryana State Warehouse Corporation (HSWC). But documents and file notings revealed discrepancies that contradicted the government’s stance.
The Logical Indian community severely condemns the Haryana government’s transfer of IAS officer Ashok Khemka. The only price honesty should come with is appreciation. But Indian government’s treatment of its honest bureaucrats speaks volumes about its vested political gains.
