IAS officer gets rap for violating disciplinary rules

Senior IAS officer Uttam Khobragade will have some explaining to do for his statements.

Senior IAS officer Uttam Khobragade will have some explaining to do for his statements.

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Sources said Chief Minister Ashok Chavan has asked Chief Secretary J.P. Dange to find out if Khobragade, principal secretary (tribal development), has violated the disciplinary rules by publicly speaking about the mess in the government.

Khobragade had on Tuesday told the media in Nagpur that the government run ashramshalas (resident schools for tribal children) were non-functional and should be closed down immediately. Inspite of spending nearly Rs 350 crore every year, the government aided ashramshalas failed to provide basic amenities to the students, a study conducted by the tribal welfare department found.

Earlier, Khobragade had sent letters to Chavan and NCP Chief Sharad Pawar on the poor state of affairs of the tribal welfare department — run by NCP minister Babanrao Pachpute—and sought their permission to cleanse the department.

Sources said both Chavan and Dange were irked with Khobragade. “The letter is forwarded to principal secretary (general administration department) K P Bakshi who has been asked to check whether it violated any service rules. The administrative officers are not supposed to discuss such matters publicly instead of raising it in internal platforms within the government,”said an official.