Moment truly painful: IAS officer Khemka on 45th transfer in 24 years

April 2, 2015

Chandigarh, Apr 2: Terming his transfer as "painful", whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka, who shot into limelight after he questioned Robert Vadra's land deals in Haryana, said he tried to address corruption and bring reforms in state transport department despite "severe limitations and entrenched interests" .Ashok Khemka

"Tried hard to address corruption and bring reforms in Transport despite severe limitations and entrenched interests. Moment is truly painful," 49-year-old Khemka said in a tweet a day after he was moved to Archaeology and Museums Department by the Manohar Lal Khattar government.

Meanwhile, Haryana's Health Minister Anil Vij came out in Khemka's support, saying he will talk to the Chief Minister regarding the officer "who had worked to weed out corruption during the previous Congress regime".

Khemka has been transferred 45 times in his nearly 22-year long career, with the officer not occupying any post beyond few months.

When asked about the decision, Vij told reporters in Ambala, "I will talk to the Chief Minister regarding Khemka's transfer."

Vij, an outspoken BJP leader and Ambala Cantt MLA, said that he had always stood by Khemka, "who had worked to weed out corruption during the previous Congress regime".

The BJP Government in the state had last night issued transfer and posting orders of nine IAS officers including Khemka with immediate effect.

Khemka, who was in November last year posted as Transport Commissioner and Secretary, Transport Department, has now been posted as Secretary, Archaeology and Museums Department and Director General, Archaeology and Museums, a posting considered as "low profile".

The government did not mention any reason for his transfer. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar's OSD Bhupeshwar Dayal termed it as an administrative matter.

However, Haryana's Transport Minister Ram Bilas Sharma maintained that "transfer is not a punishment" and stressed that it was a "routine" matter.

"Transfer is not a punishment, a promotion or demotion. Transfer of senior officers is a routine matter. There is nothing special or extraordinary about it," he said while replying to queries on the issue.

He said decisions are taken after the chief minister holds consultations with his council of ministers.

Notably, as Transport Commissioner, Khemka had refused to issue fitness certificates to over-sized trucks and trailers for carrying automobiles leading to a truckers' strike in January.

Later, the truckers in Haryana withdrew their strike after the state government gave them one year’s time to get their vehicles modified as per the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR), 1989.

Khemka, in a tweet then, had said that "60 per cent of road accidents due to overloaded and over-sized transport vehicles. Industry cooperation needed to stop this road menace."

The Transport Minister denied that the move to replace Khemka as Transport Commissioner was related to his decision reagrading truckers.

"No. Nothing like that. It is a routine matter," he said to a query on the issue.

In one of his tweets last week, Khemka while quoting Rabindranath Tagore had mentioned "If no one responds to your call, then go your own way alone".

Earlier in 2012 when he was posted as Director-General of Land Consolidation and Land Records-cum-Inspector General of Registration, Khemka had brought land deals of businessman Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi, under the scanner.

During the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government, the official had cancelled the mutation of the multi-crore land deal between Vadra's company Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd and DLF, terming it as illegal. However, the previous Hooda government gave clean chit to Vadra in the land deal.

Last week, Khemka in a tweet had said that his action in Vadra-DLF land-licence deal has been "vindicated in the CAG report.."

"Undue favours" to builders, including Robert Vadra's Skylight Hospitality, by the Haryana Government during the Congress regime has come under attack from the Comptroller and Auditor General.

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Agencies
January 25,2020

Jammu, Jan 25: People in Jammu and Kashmir expressed happiness over the restoration of mobile data services and internet access through fixed-line across the Union Territory on Saturday.

Speaking to ANI Jitendra Sharma, a resident of Jammu said, "The government has taken a good decision. People had been facing hardship for a long period and I think it will improve further."

"It is a big relief to people. People can finish their pending work. I hope that 4G services will also be resumed soon," said a resident of Kashmir.

The internet speed is restricted to 2G only.

"Access shall be limited only to whitelisted sites and not to any social media applications allowing peer to peer communication and virtual private network applications. Directions shall be effective from January 25 and will remain in force till January 31," the statement by the government read.

Earlier on January 15, 2G services were reinstated in Jammu, Samba, Kathua, and Udhampur for white-listed sites.

The Central government had suspended the internet in the region following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution on August 5 last year, which conferred special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and its bifurcation into two Union Territories -- Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir.

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News Network
February 13,2020

New Delhi, Feb 13: Arvind Kejriwal wrote to Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Wednesday, staking claim to form the government in the national capital, sources said, while hinting that the AAP might not invite senior leaders and chief ministers of other parties for the oath-taking ceremony.

The sources said it was the formal process by the AAP chief, who was elected as the legislature party leader earlier in the day, to stake claim for forming the new government.

Kejriwal, who returned to power in Delhi with a stunning poll victory on Tuesday, will take oath as chief minister for the third consecutive time on February 16.

While the oath-taking ceremony will be open to the public, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was considering not inviting leaders and chief ministers of other parties as it did not wish to be seen as a "confrontationist" against the BJP-led Centre, the sources said.

They, however, added that the party was yet to take a decision on it.

The AAP has planned mobilisation of people for the mega event and all the newly-elected MLAs of the party have been asked to ensure huge participation from their constituencies.

"I request the people of Delhi to attend the oath-taking ceremony of the chief minister at the Ramlila Maidan in large numbers," senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia told reporters, adding that the ceremony will start at 10 am.

The AAP won 62 seats in the 70-member Delhi Assembly, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged the remaining eight seats. The Congress drew a blank for the second consecutive time in the Delhi polls.

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News Network
May 9,2020

New Delhi, May 9: Three promoters of Ram Dev International, recently booked by the CBI for allegedly cheating a consortium of six banks to the tune of Rs 411 crore, have already fled the country before the State Bank of India reached the agency with the complaint, officials said on Saturday.

The CBI had recently booked the company engaged in export of Basmati rice to the West Asian and European countries and its directors Naresh Kumar, Suresh Kumar and Sangita on the basis of complaint from the State Bank of India (SBI), which suffered the loss of more than Rs 173 crore, they said.

The company had three rice milling plants, besides eight sorting and grading units in Karnal district with offices in Saudi Arabia and Dubai for trading purposes, the SBI complaint said.

Besides SBI, other members of consortium are Canara Bank, Union Bank of India, IDBI, Central Bank of India and Corporation Bank, they said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) did not carry out any searches in the matter because of the coronavirus-induced lockdown, the officials said.

The agency will start the process of summoning the accused, incase they do not join the investigation, appropriate legal action will be initiated, they said.

According to the complaint filed by SBI, the account had become non-performing asset (NPA) on January 27, 2016.

The banks conducted a joint inspection of properties in August and October, nearly 7-9 months later only to find Haryana Police security guards deployed there, they said.

"On inquiry, it has been come to notice that borrowers are absconding and have left the country," the complaint filed on February 25, 2020, after over a year of account becoming NPA, the officials said.

The complaint alleged that borrowers had removed entire machinery from old plant and fudged the balance sheets in order to unlawfully gain at the cost of banks'' funds, it said.

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