Crusader quits IAS to be a neta

The controversial IAS officer K.J. Alphons, who earned the sobriquet, ?Demolition man of Delhi? when he served as the Delhi development commissioner in the mid-90s, has resigned from government service on Thursday to join active politics.

The controversial IAS officer K.J. Alphons, who earned the sobriquet, ‘Demolition man of Delhi’ when he served as the Delhi development commissioner in the mid-90s, has resigned from government service on Thursday to join active politics. The CPI(M) is likely to field him as a candidate in next month’s assembly elections.

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He had created ripples by ordering the demolition of illegal structures in the national capital and dubbing Delhi Development Authority as one of the most corrupt institutions of the country. Alphons met chief minister Oommen Chandy on Thursday morning to inform him of his decision to resign as state land revenue commissioner.

After submitting his resignation to chief secretary Mohamed Riasuddin, Alphons said he would like to serve the people in a different capacity. “In IAS, I was there for 27 years. Now I would like to serve people in a different way,” he told the Hindustan Times. “I am not leaving in disgust. I am only leaving the platform for young bureaucrats,” he said. In 1994, Time magazine had selected him as one of the “100 global leaders who can transform the world”. Known also for his publicity stunts, he floated an organisation, Jana Shakti, avowedly to fight corruption in high places only to dissolve it later.