Haryana IAS officer Khemka asked to shift again

The Haryana Government seems to have served another transfer order on IAS officer Ashok Khemka, the 45th since he joined service in 1980.

Two days ago, the Congress government in Haryana announced that another bureaucrat will replace Khemka as the Director General of the Archives Department, a post that the latter was assigned to in April this year.

Khemka has been an Indian Administrative Service officer for 23 years, and has alleged that he is being persecuted for challenging land deals involving Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

A report by television channel NDTV quoted the Haryana Government, as saying on Thursday that Khemka was not being transferred, but only being temporarily removed and deputed along with seven other officials for election duty in other states.

It also was quoted, as saying that these duties were being assigned as additional charge only for that period.

Khemka, however, maintained that he is yet to receive an official order for election duty. He termed the move of the state government as being even more sinister than a transfer order, and expressed fears that while being on sanctioned official leave, he would be deprived of his salary, would face a break in service and also be denied pension after he retires.

"Khemka would have been transferred only if he went on election duty. Since he has not been called by the Election Commission yet, there is no transfer," Haryana Chief Secretary R K Chaudhary said in a statement, trying to stem another growing controversy.

Khemka, however shot off a letter to Chaudhary complaining that he was being suddenly moved out of his post while on leave. He has also pointed out that he has not been assigned election duties yet.

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Manish Tewari defended the B.S.Hooda Government in Haryana, saying, "Poll duty is assigned by the Election Commission, not the central government or any state government."

The Haryana Government has repeatedly rejected Khemka's allegation that Vadra was given sweetheart land deals in the state, which allowed him a windfall gain.

In 2008, while Khemka was the top man in the department that handles land registration, he cancelled a deal between Vadra and real estate major DLF, a decision which triggered the first of two transfers since then.