News Analysis India

Tag: IAS Officer

  • Much-transferred IAS officer Ashok Khemka gets another new posting in Haryana

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: The Haryana government on Monday transferred senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka and four Haryana Civil Service officers.

    Khemka, Additional Chief Secretary at the Science and Technology Department, has been posted as Additional Chief Secretary, Archives Department, said an official statement.

    The IAS officer’s career has been marked by controversies and frequent transfers — over 50 in about three decades. His last new posting was in October 2021.

    The statement, however, did not mention any specific reasons for the transfers with immediate effect.

    Among the HCS officers, Manav Malik, Sub Divisional Officer (Civil) at Radaur, has been posted as Inquiry Officer with the State Agricultural Marketing Board.

    Amit Kumar, Joint Director (Administration), Tourism has been posted as Sub Divisional Officer (Civil), Radaur.

    Mayank Bhardwaj, Estate Officer, Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran, Kaithal and Kurukshetra has been posted as City Magistrate, Rewari.

    Devendra Sharma, City Magistrate, Rewari has been posted as Sub Divisional Officer (Civil), Kalayat.

    CHANDIGARH: The Haryana government on Monday transferred senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka and four Haryana Civil Service officers.

    Khemka, Additional Chief Secretary at the Science and Technology Department, has been posted as Additional Chief Secretary, Archives Department, said an official statement.

    The IAS officer’s career has been marked by controversies and frequent transfers — over 50 in about three decades. His last new posting was in October 2021.

    The statement, however, did not mention any specific reasons for the transfers with immediate effect.

    Among the HCS officers, Manav Malik, Sub Divisional Officer (Civil) at Radaur, has been posted as Inquiry Officer with the State Agricultural Marketing Board.

    Amit Kumar, Joint Director (Administration), Tourism has been posted as Sub Divisional Officer (Civil), Radaur.

    Mayank Bhardwaj, Estate Officer, Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran, Kaithal and Kurukshetra has been posted as City Magistrate, Rewari.

    Devendra Sharma, City Magistrate, Rewari has been posted as Sub Divisional Officer (Civil), Kalayat.

  • Former Rajasthan IAS officer arrested in attempt to murder case

    By PTI

    JAIPUR: A retired IAS officer has been arrested in connection with an attempt to murder case in Rajasthan’s Nagaur district, police said on Wednesday.

    According to an FIR lodged by victim Satveer Singh, about 10-12 people vandalised the house he was living in and opened fire on the directions of former IAS officer Rohitash Singh on October 21.

    In the attack, Satveer’s wife Krishna sustained bullet injuries, the FIR said.

    According to police, the former IAS officer had purchased a piece of land in Parbatsar under the Peelwa police station limits while he was posted in Haryana.

    The said land is registered in the name of Satveer who was a partner of the former IAS officer, police said, adding that the dispute is now over taking possession of the land.

    “Both the parties have lodged FIR against each other over possession dispute over 84 bigha land. The matter is also sub-judice. We have arrested the retired IAS officer for being involved in the attack and taken him on three-day police remand,” Peelwa SHO Surajmal Chaudhary said.

    The accused was arrested on Monday and produced before a court a day after, the SHO said, adding police are looking for other accused involved in the attack.

    JAIPUR: A retired IAS officer has been arrested in connection with an attempt to murder case in Rajasthan’s Nagaur district, police said on Wednesday.

    According to an FIR lodged by victim Satveer Singh, about 10-12 people vandalised the house he was living in and opened fire on the directions of former IAS officer Rohitash Singh on October 21.

    In the attack, Satveer’s wife Krishna sustained bullet injuries, the FIR said.

    According to police, the former IAS officer had purchased a piece of land in Parbatsar under the Peelwa police station limits while he was posted in Haryana.

    The said land is registered in the name of Satveer who was a partner of the former IAS officer, police said, adding that the dispute is now over taking possession of the land.

    “Both the parties have lodged FIR against each other over possession dispute over 84 bigha land. The matter is also sub-judice. We have arrested the retired IAS officer for being involved in the attack and taken him on three-day police remand,” Peelwa SHO Surajmal Chaudhary said.

    The accused was arrested on Monday and produced before a court a day after, the SHO said, adding police are looking for other accused involved in the attack.

  • Arrested Punjab IAS officer Sanjay Popli’s son shot dead, family alleges murder

    By ANI

    CHANDIGARH: Arrested Punjab Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer Sanjay Popli’s son died of gunshot injuries on Saturday. While the police said Kartik Popli, died by suicide, his family, however, has claimed he was murdered.

    “They tortured my child and killed him. They tortured my domestic help for evidence. The entire vigilance bureau and the DSP are under the pressure from the chief minister. This is the way they are killing people,” the distraught mother of Kartik Popli said.

    The incident comes days after the Punjab Vigilance Bureau arrested IAS officer Popli and his accomplice on corruption charges. Anu Preet Kular, a relative of Sanjay Popli alleged that the “Vigilance people murdered him”.

    “Vigilance team asked Sanjay Popli to sign on something otherwise it won’t be good for his son. They locked him in a room and took his son upstairs. We were standing downstairs and after some time we heard the sound of gunshots. The Vigilance people murdered him.”

    SSP Kuldeep Chahal said that the boy allegedly shot himself in the head with his father’s licensed pistol. “The vigilance team had arrived (at IAS Sanjay Popli’s house) for an enquiry and heard a gunshot. After verification, they realized that his son had shot himself with his licensed gun. He was taken to a hospital,” SSP Chahal said.

    Popli and one more person were arrested by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau last week under allegations of corruption. He was sent to a four-day police remand. As his remand was ending today, the vigilance team had landed up at his residence today for another inquiry.

    Officials said that several gold and silver coins, cash, mobile phones and other electronic devices were recovered from the residence of arrested IAS officer today.

  • FIR against Tripura cadre IAS officer for felling trees during his stint as Gaya DM

    By Express News Service

    PATNA: A Tripura cadre IAS officer Abhishek Singh has landed in deep trouble for his alleged involvement in corrupt practices during his stint as district magistrate of Gaya in Bihar. Singh was on inter-state deputation in his home state Bihar for a period of five years.

    An FIR was lodged against Singh at the special vigilance unit after a preliminary investigation revealed that he managed to fell a number of trees from the premises of the district magistrate’s official residence in Gaya for his personal use. He was also accused of issuing arms licenses to people throwing all prescribed norms to the wind. The issuance of arms licenses raised many eyebrows and complaints were made to the office of the chief minister Nitish Kumar.

    “As prima facie, the allegations were found to be true against Singh, he was repatriated to his parent cadre Tripura and a formal inquiry ordered for his acts of omission and commissions,” a senior officer in the know of the matter said.

    The officer who did not wish to be named said that the sub-ordinates of the then Gaya district magistrate confirmed the felling of trees without approval from the department concerned. They remained tight-lipped over the incident for a long due to political clout of Singh.

    Sources said that a video of the trees that were felled at the then DM’s behest was submitted to the chief minister’s office. Singh’s owned a palatial building at Police Colony near Anisabad in Patna. It is suspected that the wood was used in the newly built house.

    Singh’s clout could be gauged from the fact that his tenure of the interstate deputation was extended for six months in October last year. In addition, the state government has initiated departmental proceedings against two senior IPS officers—Amit Lodha and Aditya Kumar—both of Bihar cadre– fortheir alleged connections with illegal sand mining mafias.

    While Lodha was posted as IG, Magadh range, Kumar was posted as SSP of Gaya. The transfer of a police inspector posted as a station house officer at a police station in Gaya was the reason behind the two IPS officers’ fight.

    The disciplinary action against the bureaucrats has evoked sharp reactions from different political parties. While the ruling NDA defended the action and said that the government was sticking to maintaining zero tolerance for corruption, the opposition parties assailed the government for its failure to check corruptpractices.

  • BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari seeks action on West Bengal IAS officer for ‘renaming’ central projects

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take action against an IAS officer of West Bengal for allegedly flouting service rules by renaming three central projects in an official order.

    Sharing his letter to the PM on Twitter, the BJP leader claimed that Uttar Dinajpur District Magistrate & Collector Arvind Kumar Mina, a central cadre officer, has renamed the central schemes to make them look like those of the state government and tried to “steal undue credit”.

    @PMOIndia@HMOIndia@jdhankhar1#Cabinet_Secretary_Rajiv_Gauba@BhallaAjay26@DARPG_GoI@DoPTGoI@IASassociation@chief_west #Hari_Krishna_Dwivedi@DMUttarDinajpur@arvind0403
    — Suvendu Adhikari • শুভেন্দু অধিকারী (@SuvenduWB) April 21, 2022
    Adhikari also posted a copy of that April 20 order on his Twitter handle after digitally marking the “renamed” schemes.

    The ruling Trinamool Congress claimed that Adhikari’s post exposes his ignorance about governance. “This order exposes political leaning & misplaced prejudice to promote the agenda of the ruling party of WB, i.e.to rebrand central government schemes as their own and try to steal undue credit,” the Nandigram MLA tweeted.

    He said that the IAS officer had referred to Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana as Bangla Awas Yojana, Swachh Bharat Mission as Mission Nirmal Bangla and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana as Bangla Gram Sadak Yojana.

    In these projects, the cost is shared between the Centre and state governments in the ratio of 60:40 in most states. “I believe that you would look into the matter and if you feel my concern is genuine, then you would ask competent authorities to take proper action,” the letter read. The district magistrate could not be contacted.

    TMC national spokesperson Sukhendu Sekhar Roy told PTI: “Such comments by him (Adhikari) reveal his ignorance (about governance). There is little point in rebutting Suvendu Adhikari’s arguments and giving him undue importance.”

  • Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla visits Assam’s Duliajan to attend SPs’ conference

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla visited Assam on Tuesday to attend the second edition of the state’s superintendents of police (SP) conference at the oil township of Duliajan. Bhalla, an Assam-Meghalaya cadre IAS officer of 1984 batch, will interact with the district SPs who have gathered to review work done in the last six months.

    Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had chaired the inaugural day of the meeting on Monday. Bhalla is expected to give a motivational speech to the SPs of all districts of Assam about various aspects of law and order and the country’s prevailing security situation, sources said.

    Duliajan is located about 50 km from Dibrugarh, where Bhalla was the Deputy Commissioner in early 1990s.

    Union Minister of State Rameswar Teli, state cabinet ministers Atul Bora and Sanjoy Kishan, chief secretary Jishnu Barua, DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta and senior officers of the Army and air force had attended Monday’s inaugural session.

  • Eighteen IAS officers, 39 IPS officers transferred in Rajasthan

    By PTI

    JAIPUR: The Rajasthan government has transferred 39 IPS officers, including two ADGs, and 18 IAS officers. The transfer lists was issued by the state department of personnel late on Wednesday night.

    Secretary, Labour, Employment, Skill and Entrepreneurship, Niraj K Pawan and MD of Rajasthan Skill and Livelihood Development Corporation (RSLDC) Pradeep Gawande, who was mired in controversy after the anti-corruption bureau arrested two RSLDC employees for allegedly taking bribe, are among the 18 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers transferred.

    Pawan has been made Secretary, colonisation department, in Bikaner, while Gawande has been made Director of Department of Archaeology and Museums in Jaipur. Two Additional Director Generals (Addl DGP) are among the 39 Indian Police Service (IPS) officers who have been transferred.

    Addl DGP (Law and Order) Saurabh Srivastava has been made Addl DGP (PHQ) while Addl DGP (Traffic) Smita Srivastava, was shifted as Addl DGP (Civil Rights). IG (Jaipur range) Hawa Singh Ghumariya, will be the IG (Law and Order) while IG (CM Security) Sanjay Shotriya will be the new IG (Jaipur range).

    SPs of Bikaner, Baran, Jhunjhunu, Barmer, Ajmer, Sriganganagar, Pali, Bundi, Jhalawar, Jalore, Banswara, Kota rural districts and DCPs of Jaipur West and Jodhpur West have also been transferred.

  • Chhattisgarh: 20 IAS, 2 IPS and several state administrative service officers transferred

    By PTI

    RAIPUR:  In a major bureaucratic reshuffle, the Chhattisgarh government has assigned fresh postings to 20 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and two Indian Police Service (IPS) officers in the state, officials said on Monday.

    Besides, 96 State Administrative Service (SAS) officers and six state police service officers have also been transferred, as per the Chhattisgarh government’s orders issued on Sunday evening.

    According to the order, Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Subrat Kumar Sahoo, the 1992-batch IAS officer, has been relieved from the additional charge of ACS, water resources department and given new responsibility of ACS, public health engineering department.

    State Principal secretary of commerce and industries Manoj Kumar Pingua, who had the additional charge as resident commissioner of Chhattisgarh Bhawan in New Delhi, has been given the charge of principal resident commissioner, Chhattisgarh Bhawan, New Delhi.

    Likewise, state Agriculture, Farmer Welfare and Biotechnology Department secretary Dr M Geetha has been given the additional charge of resident commissioner, Chhattisgarh Bhawan, New Delhi.

    In another order, the state government has shifted Deputy Inspector General of Police (Police Headquarters in Raipur) Ajay Yadav as in-charge Inspector General of Surguja range, while the Chhattisgarh Armed Force’s Commandant of 11th battalion (Janjgir Champa) Vivek Shukla has been transferred as Assistant Inspector General (law and order), police headquarters, Raipur.

    The state government has also issued fresh postings to 96 SAS and six state police service officers, as per the orders.

  • Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij objects to appointment of IPS officer to IAS cadre post

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij has opposed the move approved by the CM’s office to appoint an IPS officer to a post meant for the IAS cadre, stressing the need for a nod from the Centre.

    In the past too, Vij had expressed his unhappiness over IPS officers being posted on non-policing jobs, citing shortage of police officers.

    The minister is of the firm opinion that the Police Department cannot relieve IPS officers for their posting to a cadre post of IAS officers till the Centre’s Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) grants approval for it, sources said.

    Recently, senior IPS officer Shatrujeet Kapoor, who also holding the post of the transport principal secretary was relieved of the charge after his appointment as the Director General of the State Vigilance Bureau.

    The post of transport principal secretary has fallen vacant.

    The state government proposed the name of another senior IPS officer and the CM’s office okayed it but Vij, in an official communication, insisted that the government has to seek prior approval of the DoPT before appointing an IPS officer to an IAS cadre post, the sources said.

    Kapoor was earlier also posted as the chairman-cum-managing director of the power discoms while ADGP O P Singh posted as the special officer (community policing and outreach) in the Chief Minister’s Office.

    As per provisions of the Indian Administrative Service (Cadre) Rules on temporary appointment, a cadre post in a state shall not be filled by a person who is not a cadre officer, except if there is no suitable officer available for filling the vacancy.

    The rules also say that cadre post shall be filled only in accordance with principles, which include that if there is a Select List in force, the appointment will be made in the order of the names of the officers in the list.

    If it is proposed to depart from the order of names appearing in the Select List, the state government will make a proposal to Centre along with reasons and the appointment will be made only with the approval of the Union government, as per the rules.

  • Madhya Pradesh: IAS officer arrested for ‘forging’ court orders

    By PTI
    INDORE: Madhya Pradesh Police have arrested an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer for allegedly forging two orders of a local court in a case of assaulting a woman in Indore, officials said on Sunday.

    The accused had allegedly got promoted from the State Administrative Service to the IAS cadre with the help of one of the forged orders pertaining to his acquittal in the assault case, they said.

    IAS officer Santosh Verma, posted as additional commissioner in the Urban Administration and Development Department in Bhopal, was arrested late Saturday night after being questioned, City Superintendent of Police Harish Motwani said, without divulging any further details.

    According to police officials, a special judge of the district court filed a complaint about this on June 26 this year at MG Road police station in Indore.

    Based on the complaint, the police registered a case against unidentified persons under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 471 (using forged documents as genuine) and other relevant provisions.

    According to officials, two forged orders, dated October 6, 2020, were allegedly prepared in the name of the special judge of the local court. In one of these orders, Verma was acquitted of charges of abusing, and assault and criminal intimidation of a woman.

    The other judgement said both the parties had reached an agreement. In his complaint, the special judge said he did not pass any order on October 6, 2020, as he was on casual leave that day for the check-up of his wife, who is a cancer patient, officials said.

    The fake order about Verma’s acquittal in the assault case was allegedly presented to the state government as original following which he was promoted to the IAS cadre, another official said. The police are conducting further investigation into the case, he added.