Woman IAS officer transferred for 'highhandedness' for enforcing lockdown

A woman IAS officer was transferred after a former Congress MLA accused her of resorting to highhandedness in dealing with public in Rajasthans Chittorgarh district.

In his complaint lodged with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, former Congress MLA Surendra Singh Jadavat also alleged that Chittorgarh SDM Tejasvi Rana also snatched currency notes from vendors in the mandi and tore them.

A sitting ruling party MLA, going to Circuit House in a vehicle, too was stopped by her and his driver was fined by police on her directions for not carrying licence.

Rana, a 2017-batch IAS officer, was transferred after some videos, purportedly showing her snatching registers from traders in a mandi and throwing them besides pushing a table while enforcing lockdown on Tuesday, surfaced on social media.

The officer reached mandi and misbehaved with vendors there on Tuesday. It was the time when the district administration had already announced a relaxation for four hours.

There was no crowd on shops and the traders were sitting idele but the officer aggressively accosted them, threw their registers after snatching them from the shopkeepers, Jadavat alleged.

The IAS officer's acts were got captured in CCTV cameras installed in shops and the videos got viral.

At one shop, the vendor was counting currency notes. She snatched the notes and tore them up. This is a crime, he alleged.

Her behaviour was insensitive and objectionable. Her highhandedness created resentment among traders and I complained to the chief minister about it the same day, Jadavat said.

Jadavat also alleged that the officer also tore lockdown passes of two persons during checking on road.

She conducted checking on roads and tore lockdown passes of two persons who were returning after distributing ration to the needy. This was the peak of highhandedness, he said.

On the same day, the SDM stopped the vehicle carrying Congress MLA Rajendra Singh Bidhuri near Apsara cinema in the city and directed police to fine the driver for not carrying his licence.

The MLA was going to the Circuit House, and when his vehicle was stopped and sent to the police station, he went to the Circuit House in another vehicle.

As per the SDM's direction, the driver and the vehicle were sent to the police station where the driver was fined, a police official said.

Bidhuri said he has no issue with the police action as the officers were doing their jobs.

My vehicle was stopped by the SDM and police. They were doing their job and I have no problem with that. It was just a petty matter, he said, adding, he has no role in her transfer.

The incidents occurred on Tuesday and her transfer order was issued on Wednesday night. However, no reason for the transfer was mentioned in the order.

When contacted, Rana, who was transferred to Jaipur on the post of joint CEO- state health assurance agency, refused to comment on the matters.