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Was Ashok Khemka victimized? 43 transfers in 19 years
Vishwa Mohan ,TNN | Oct 17, 2012, 01.47AM IST 
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Official records show that Khemka, a computer engineer who got his first posting as IAS officer in 1993, was transferred 43 times in 19 years with most of his postings lasting merely months.
NEW DELHI: Transferring an IAS officer may be the prerogative of a government but Haryana - irrespective of the party in power - has made a mockery of the system by deviating from all 'service' guidelines in the case of Ashok Khemka who ordered scrutiny of Robert Vadra's land records.
No officer of this elite service has ever been transferred so frequently by any state. The ministry of personnel - the cadre controlling authority of IAS officers - does not have other instance of similar transfers anywhere in the country.
Official records show that Khemka, a computer engineer who got his first posting as IAS officer in 1993, was transferred 43 times in 19 years with most of his postings lasting merely months.
During this period, he held eight posts in various departments for a month or less. Twelve of his 43 postings, incidentally, were in departments which dealt with 'land' in one way or the other - ranging from acquisition, consolidation, records and revenue management to development.
Executive Record Sheet (ERS) of the ministry of personnel shows that Khemka - an IAS officer of the 1991 batch -- held only two postings that lasted for over a year. He got the first such tenure (one-and-a-half years) during 2005-06 as chief administrator of the urban development department.
Khemka, a joint secretary-level officer, got a slightly longer tenure of one year and 10 months as managing director of the industry department during 2008-10.
In the backdrop of the latest transfer from his post of director general, consolidation of holdings and land records, where he was posted for less than three months, the officer claimed that the state government had "abruptly" transferred him as a "punishment" for acting as a whistle-blower in several dubious land transactions.
In his letter to the state chief secretary P K Chaudhery last week, he pointed out that there should be a minimum tenure of two years as per the statutory IAS (Fixation of Cadre Strength) Regulations 2010, "but the state government has violated statutory regulations".
The chief secretary, however, said transfer was the prerogative of the government. "The officer (Khemka) was transferred for administrative reasons," he said.
Khemka, in his letter, said, "It is shocking to learn about my abrupt transfer... this is deliberate and malafide to punish me due to some vested elements in the political-bureaucratic hierarchy affected by the expose of the scams in consolidation of land holdings under the exercise of powers.".......................http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTIvMTAvMTcjQXIwMTUwMA==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
I understand from this report Ashok Khemka was a brilliant student. With his PhD, he could have been in a more lucrative job in private sector or in a top educational institution. But he chose to complete IAS and take up a job in the Government. He being an upright person gets booted all over and still does what he believes is right. I know he is not alone and there are upright IAS officers in every state and centre who get the same treatment. There is an IAS officers association in most states and certainly there is one in Haryana. When Khemka is threatened for what he did by being a conscientious officer, should he not get his colleagues to support him or have the Association talk for him - and get the protection for him and his family which the Indian public want him to be provided? All IAS officers are brilliant, otherwise they would not have made the grade - but only few stand up to the politician when he/she is wrong, many even if personally clean & non-corrupt look the other way when wrongs are done (classic example is our PM, a career bureaucrat who continues to look the other way even while holding the highest & powerful office)and then there are a few IAS officers who are corrupt and who teach the politicians to go about doing what they want to do. This small few are more powerful and ensure that the majority IAS officers toe the line drawn by the corrupt masters. That is because there is a lack of unity among IAS officers of the country. If only the all IAS officers in India unite under one powerful association and not cooperate with corrupt politicians - ensuring that they get the right protection for theselves & their faamilies which they can do if they unite - there will be more Khemkas in the country. They can probably eliminate atleast 80% of the corruption in the country. I appeal to all the IAS officers to consider this seriously - in the present mood prevailing in the country - you will have the public support.
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