Haryana govt orders vigilance probe against Ashok Khemka

The Haryana government has ordered a vigilance probe against whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka, whose move to cancel a land deal between realty major DLF and Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra created a political storm last year.

The state vigilance bureau is likely to initiate the probe within a week against Khemka who is accused of wrongdoings in the procurement of seeds during his term as the Managing Director of the Haryana Seed Development Corporation, a job to which he was transferred a day after he ordered cancellation of the DLF-Vadra land deal on October 15, 2012 as director general, Consolidation.

In his career spanning more than 20 years, the 47-year-old officer has been transferred 44 times by the state government.

A complaint alleging anomalies in the procurement of seeds by the department then headed by Khemka has led to the inquiry.  The  principal secretary in state agriculture department was asked to probe the complaint.

Khemka, presently posted as secretary, Archives, has denied all such allegations maintaining that all rules were adhered to while making procurements.
All the facts and the complaints related to the case were put before the Haryana agriculture minister who recommended a vigilance probe into the matter to ascertain the veracity of the charges.

Haryana Chief Secretary P K Chaudhary had sought Khemka’s comments on the issue following which a vigilance probe was recommended for which Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has given his approval.

Khemka has submitted a 105-page reply a few months ago to a three-member inquiry committee comprising senior IAS officers Krishna Mohan, K K Jalan and Rajan Gupta. The letter “exposed” many other malpractices.

Taking on Hooda

Khemka even trained his guns on Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
In his report, the Haryana-cadre IAS officer alleged that Hooda’s aunt received a prime piece of usurped panchayat land worth crores in Faridabad district bordering the national capital.

In chapter three of his reply, titled “Violations of rules of natural justice,” Khemka recalled detecting misappropriation of 734 acres of panchayat land to favour VVIPs during an inspection of land records of Ankhir village in Faridabad.

“One such VVIP benefiting from the second partition proceedings was Krishna Kanta, mother of Praveen Kumar, IAS, who was the deputy commissioner of Faridabad at that time,” he said.

Krishna Kanta is reported to be the paternal aunt of the incumbent chief minister of Haryana.