BJP govt in Haryana drops chargesheet against bureaucrat Ashok Khemka

Khemka was the officer who cancelled the land use change in a deal between Robert Vadra and realty major DLF

The BJP-led Haryana government has dropped a chargesheet filed against whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka, who had cancelled the land use change in a deal struck between Robert Vadra's Skylight Hospitality and realty major DLF, The Indian Express reported Wednesday.

Khemka had been chargesheeted in December, 2013 by the then Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government after he cancelled the mutation of a land deal between DLF and Vadra, who is married to Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s daughter, Priyanka.

The chargesheet accused Khemka of six offences, to which he replied earlier this year. On October 6, Khemka was given a personal audience by current Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar.

 

When asked, Khemka told the Indian Express that he was “not yet aware of any such move by the state government. I was called for a personal hearing by the Chief Minister on October 6 in his office. I went to him and explained my reply to him that I had already submitted to the state government.”

Confirming the development, Sanjeev Kaushal, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, told the English daily that “The Chief Minister had passed the orders about a week ago. The Chief Secretary can be checked for further communication”.

Khemka, who has been transferred umpteen times during his career, allegedly for his honesty, was charged with delay in relinquishing charge as head of Consolidation of Land Holdings department; exceeding his jurisdiction in cancelling the land mutation deal between Vadra and DLF; passing erroneous orders; wrongly suggesting to the Town and Country Planning department what should have been done before renewal of (Vadra’s) Change of Land Use licence; criticising government and its policy in the media; and violating service conduct rules.