In his long battle against the establishment, senior Haryana IAS officer and noted whistleblower, Ashok Khemka, has undergone many trying times. In his famously peripatetic career in the civil service, Mr Khemka has been transferred more than 50 times, six times during the tenure of the current BJP government in the state. So it was no surprise that his name figured yet again in the recent administrative reshuffle by the Haryana government. Mr Khemka, who is principal secretary of sports and youth affairs, has been posted as principal secretary of the science and technology department.
However, the babu has finally managed to score yet another moral victory, this time over the Manohar Lal Khattar government. The Punjab and Haryana high court has upheld his plea and expunged adverse remarks made by Mr Khattar in the babu’s annual confidential report for 2016-17. These remarks would have cost Mr Khemka his next promotion as an additional secretary in the Central government. It was clearly a move to clip Mr Khemka’s wings, but it has now backfired on the state government. Curiously, the chief minister ignored the “outstanding” rating given by his own minister, Anil Vij, who was Mr Khemka’s reviewing authority at the time.
With the judiciary backing him, Mr Khemka has survived, but more importantly, scored a major “moral” victory.
UPSC in the dock over DGP picks
Former UP police chief Prakash Singh has moved the Supreme Court after the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) superseded senior IPS officers while selecting DGPs. Mr Singh claims the UPSC has misinterpreted the 2006 Supreme Court judgment, reiterated by the court last July. According to Mr Singh, the court’s directive that DGPs should have a fixed tenure of two years has led the UPSC to exclude senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officers close to retirement from the promotion exercise. He said the 2006 judgment clearly states that the tenure should be two years long irrespective of a candidate’s date of retirement.
When the UPSC shortlisted three candidates each for selection as Punjab and Bihar DGPs last year, it is believed to have only chosen IPS officers of the 1987 batch, superseding several senior officers with less than two years of service left. It is in this light that Mr Singh has moved the apex court.
Non-cadre babus gain ascendancy
It is a rising trend and it has got cadre officers in Telangana worried. Since the past one year, even as IAS and IPS cadre officials await new postings as district collectors or superintendents of police, the state government has been filling the positions with non-cadre officers. Sources say that in Telangana, at least 27 non-cadre officers are in cadre posts such as district collectors, managing directors of discoms, or heading departments such as horticulture and marketing, among others. At least three to four non-cadre officers are heading IPS positions as superintendents of police.
Those in the know say that a reshuffle last year created a stir when the government appointed many senior IAS officers to non-cadre posts and named non-cadre officers to cadre posts. More recently, the government appointed three non-cadre officers as collectors in Narayanpet, Mulugu and Vikarabad districts.
Consequently, IAS and IPS officers are extremely concerned about this trend, which is depriving them of occupying posts traditionally allotted to them. However, it is being pointed out that Telangana is not alone and this trend is also being seen in states like Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. Apparently, there is no laid down rule that states a non-cadre officer cannot be appointed to a cadre post. But IAS babus say that cadre officers will feel “demoralised” if this trend continues.
