Whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka said on Thursday that his 46th transfer order was “truly painful.” Mr. Khemka, Commissioner-Secretary in the Haryana Transport Department, has been shifted to the Museum and Archaeology Department.
“Tried hard to address corruption and bring reforms in transport despite severe limitations and entrenched interests. Moment is truly painful,” Mr. Khemka tweeted.
Tried hard to address corruption and bring reforms in Transport despite severe limitations and entrenched interests. Moment is truly painful
— Ashok Khemka, IAS (@AshokKhemka_IAS)
>April 1, 2015He also said he was way too senior to hold the position he had been given now. “The rank of Director-General or Secretary is given to a 16-year senior IAS officer. I am 24 years senior.”
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, however, dismissed the development as “an administrative matter.” He said no motives should be attributed to the honest officer’s transfer.
The BJP government has drawn criticism for following in the footsteps of the Congress, which too had transferred Mr. Khemka earlier for flagging party president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra’s land deals in Haryana.
While the Congress refrained from commenting, the Aam Aadmi Party criticised the BJP. Its leader Ashutosh said the Congress and the BJP were two sides of the same coin and were not serious about fighting corruption.
Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij, however, came out in Mr. Khemka’s support.
He said he had always stood by the bureaucrat and would talk to the Chief Minister.
A 1991-batch IAS officer, Mr. Khemka was posted out only 11 months after being in the Land and Revenue Department in 1993. This was followed by an even shorter tenure of a month in the Agriculture and Cooperative Department.