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Khemka seeks directions from Lokayukta to inquire how case was registered
The IAS officer has also prayed for dismissal of a complaint against him during his 2009-10 HSWC stint as managing director
: Senior Haryana IAS officer Ashok Khemka has filed an intervention application before the Lokayukta seeking directions to the chief secretary to inquire as to how a first information report (FIR) by Panchkula police was registered against him in a hurry without following the due process established by the law.
The IAS officer in his intervention application before Haryana Lokayukta, Justice (retd) Hari Pal Verma has also prayed for dismissal of a complaint pertaining to irregularities in the selection of managers during his 2009-10 stint as managing director of Haryana State Warehousing Corporation (HSWC).
The Haryana police had booked Khemka in April under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act for allegedly making appointments in an illegal and arbitrary manner during his stint as HSWC MD. The FIR was registered without taking the prior approval of the state government, a mandatory requirement under section 17-A of the PC Act, before registration of a PC Act FIR against a public servant.
The then MD of HSWC, Sanjeev Verma had in April sought registration of a criminal case against Khemka and three others for allegedly making appointments in HSWC in an illegal and arbitrary manner. On Khemka’s complaint, the Panchkula police simultaneously registered a criminal case against Verma for making a false charge of offence and framing an incorrect document with intent to cause injury.
“The police have now admitted before the Punjab and Haryana high court in Ashok Khemka versus state of Haryana that there is no progress in the FIR for want of statutory approval and in case the matter for grant of prior approval is proceeded with, 10 days clear notice would be served upon the undersigned,” reads Khemka’s application before the Lokayukta.
Khemka, an additional chief secretary (ACS) rank IAS officer who is at loggerheads with his junior IAS colleague, Sanjeev Verma has also levelled allegations against the latter in his intervention application.
The application alleged that Sanjeev Verma had an axe to grind with Khemka.
“As his superior controlling officer, the undersigned (Khemka) had in June 2020 reported to the Chief Secretary Verma’s abuse of official position in making several bogus contractual appointments and misusing the office vehicle. In his vindictiveness to frame the undersigned at any cost, Sanjeev Verma terminated as many as 11 employees who were selected under the said HSWC advertisement in 2009. Each termination order has been stayed by the high court with the observations that they were ex facie vindictive and retributive,’’ Khemka said in his application.
Khemka also wrote that in this ploy against the undersigned, the complainant was only holding the strings. “It was Sanjeev Verma who was plucking at them. Verma was posted as MD of HSWC on April 7, 2022 and on April 11 obtained a complaint from the complainant bearing the same allegation as are before this authority (Lokayukta),’’ Khemka’s application said.
The ACS rank officer in his application said that critical record pertaining to the screening committee and other relevant file noting attesting to the innocence of undersigned’s innocence were made missing. “A tutored report from a puppet committee was obtained the same day on April 18 and a police complaint was made in extreme hurry on April 20 without offering any opportunity of hearing to me,’’ Khemka said in his application.
On being asked about the allegation levelled by Khemka in his application, Sanjeev Verma said that he was more than willing to get all the allegations against him probed by central bureau of investigation (CBI).
“I have said this before and I am saying it again that the government should refer all the allegations against me and Khemka to the CBI for an independent probe. I am not the one to run away from any investigation,’’ Verma said.
