Jal Vihar bungalow row: MHA suspends former Delhi Jal Board official

An order issued by MHA under-secretary Rakesh Kumar Singh, dated July 31, said that Rai has been suspended with immediate effect.

The Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Monday suspended Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Udit Prakash Rai, who has been in the eye of a storm for allegedly demolishing a 15th century monument in southeast Delhi for building a new government accommodation in its place, to move in as the then CEO of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB).

According to the suspended officer, “almost 20 such residential accommodations of DJB have been occupied by various IAS officers none of whom is working for DJB.” (FILE)

An order issued by MHA under-secretary Rakesh Kumar Singh, dated July 31, said that Rai, a 2007-batch officer currently serving as a secretary with the Mizoram government, has been suspended with immediate effect.

“Whereas, department proceedings against Udit Prakash Rai are contemplated. Now, therefore, the President of India, in exercise of powers conferred under Rule 3 of the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal), 1969, hereby places Rai under suspension with immediate effect,” the order said.

The order added that during the period of suspension, the headquarters for Rai will be Mizoram, and he shall not leave the headquarters without obtaining the prior permission from the competent authority.

During the suspension period, Rai will be entitled to subsistence allowance equal to leave salary, the order marked to the Mizoram chief secretary, the principal secretary to Delhi’s lieutenant governor and the Delhi chief secretary added.

HT reached out to Rai, but the officer declined to comment on his suspension order.

MHA did not respond to requests for a comment on the development.

Rai served as the DJB CEO between October 2021 and June 2022. Earlier, on April 26, Delhi’s vigilance department issued a show cause notice to Rai for allegedly demolishing the monument, located in Jal Vihar near Lajpat Nagar, which finds a mention in the Archaeological Survey of India’s “List of Muhammadan and Hindu monuments” prepared in the 20th century.

The vigilance notice said that following a visit in January 2021, the department of archaeology wrote to DJB, seeking possession of the monument and a gateway for conservation.

When the department returned to the site in January this year, it found that the monument had vanished.

Later, in June, Rai filed a series of complaints, alleging that a “biased inquiry” was being conducted against him, and that his family was being subjected to harassment. Rai in his complaint said he retained the house according to prevalent rules, and that “almost 20 such residential accommodations of DJB have been occupied by various Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli Civil Services (DANICS) officers and IAS officers of the AGMUT cadre, none of whom is working for DJB” and many officers are “working outside Delhi and still retaining their houses”.

The MHA has also issued transfer orders for 2005-batch IAS officer Ashish More from Delhi to Ladakh.

More, who served as the service department secretary, was removed from his position on May 11, hours after the Supreme Court affirmed the elected Delhi government’s powers to appoint and transfer officers within the Capital in all departments, except for those concerning land, police and public order.

On the same day, services minister Saurabh Bharadwaj signed off on More’s removal — which soon snowballed into a controversy as More did not put up a file for his transfer, and later the minister alleged that he had gone “absconding”, “his phone was switched off”, and flagged his “unauthorised absence” from work, finally issuing a show cause notice to him.

On May 15, More agreed to vacate his position from the Capital’s administrative set-up, two days after the notice was issued.