Bureaucrat Ashok Khemka Transferred For The 51st Time – For Simply Being Honest

Haryana bureaucrat Ashok Khemka has been transferred yet again – and this will be the 51st transfer for the officer, well known for his honesty and zero tolerance for corruption.

He is among the 13 IAS officers who were transferred by the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government in Haryana on Sunday. Soon after the news of transfer broke, a resilient Khemka tweeted, saying: “So much work planned. News of another transfer. Crash landing again. Vested interests win. Deja vu. But this is temporary. Will continue with renewed vigour and energy.”

Khemka, who is now posted as Principal Secretary, Haryana Sports and Youth Affairs Department and will serve under Haryana Sports Minister Anil Vij, has been transferred in less than three months after he was appointed as Principal Secretary of Haryana Social Justice and Empowerment Department, said a report in The Indian Express.

It is alleged that the transfer came about after he wrote a letter in October to a minister requesting him to return an officer's vehicle “in public interest”. The official jeep was returned, but it’s anyone’s guess if that sparked the transfer order.

Perhaps, he was referring to this incident when he tweeted: “It is fine if it has been done in public interest but saddening if done for vested interests says IAS Officer Ashok Khemka on being transferred again.”

Fifty-two-year-old Khemka, the 1991-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, first made headlines in 2012 after he cancelled a land deal involving Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra. The transfer spree started with the cancellation of the land deal, and things seem to be no different with BJP in power.