A 38-year old lie faxed hours before retirement spoils Raj govt staffer’s party

Kota mining engineer Narendra Khateek said the department acted swiftly once the fax revealed Lekhraj Meena’s senior secondary certificate to be fake.

Preparations for his retirement were in full swing and within a few hours, Lekhraj Meena, a clerk in Rajasthan government’s mines department’s Kota office would have retired with full benefits--after having served for 38-years-- had a fax from the mines minister not arrived and put paid to his plans of enjoying his post-retirement emoluments and of course his retirement party planned at the expense of government funds.

Lekhraj Meena, a clerk in Rajasthan government’s mines department’s Kota office would have retired with full benefits had a fax from the mines minister not arrived. (HT File photo (Representative image))

It was all set at the mines department in Kota on the last day of July, a Wednesday, when a fax arrived, spoiling the fun. Sent by the state government’s mines minister, it urged action against the man who was retiring the same day. He had used a fake mark sheet to gain employment 38-years ago, the fax explained.

Kota mining engineer Narendra Khateek said the department acted swiftly once the fax revealed Lekhraj Meena’s senior secondary certificate to be fake.

“We received a fax message from the minister about Meena’s mark sheet of senior secondary being a fake. We have immediately stopped the post-retirement benefits and will lodge an FIR against him for forgery,” he said.

Swift action from the minister of mines Pramod Jain Bhaya was responsible for the timely interruption. The minister said his office had received a complaint about Meena’s mark sheet only a few days ago.

“We wrote to the Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education on July 23 because the mark sheet was issued by it. The Board replied on July 26 that the mark sheet was a fake,” he said.

The minister’s office said Meena had forged his date of birth in the mark sheet and his name and his father’s name were also written in a different font than those used elsewhere on the document.

According to the mines department records, Meena was employed by it in the year 1981. Meena, predictably, is absconding after news of forgery became public.