Boss 'discovers' lone honest official in department

But for the first time perhaps, a department of Uttar Pradesh government has officially admitted that there is only one honest official.

The Stamp and Registration department of Uttar Pradesh has stated that it has only one honest official. The lone honest official is Akeel Zafar, who is the additional inspector general (stamp) and currently posted at Allahabad, it said.
The candid admission came a few days back from the inspector general of Registration Himanshu Kumar, when he appeared before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court in a case of contempt.

“No one, except for one officer Akeel Zafar, is honest in the stamp and registration department”, Kumar told the court while stating about the difficulties he was encountering in posting of officials at various places in the state.
He said that the department, which has as many as 460 officers, had been facing difficulties in finding honest officials for postings at Ghaziabad, Noida and Greater Noida offices. The Officers’ Association of the department has taken strong exception to the statement by Kumar and has demanded its immediate withdrawal.

“Does the Inspector General have any material evidence on record to prove that all the other officers of the department are corrupt...if he does not, he should withdraw his statement”, the association president O P Singh said.
Singh said that Kumar, who has been at his current post for two years, had himself evaluated the other officials and many of them had been evaluated good or excellent and outstanding.