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Anti-corruption IAS officer's VRS application creates furore in UP

Anti-corruption crusader SP Singh has been transferred six times so far. His retirement is due in December, but his application for voluntary retirement has created a lot of tension in UP's local politics.

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Advertised as 'Uttam Pradesh', the India's most populated Uttar Pradesh has got a bad reputation when it comes to treatment of its administrative officers. Recently, IPS officer Amitabh Thakur was first suspended from duty and then charge-sheeted with rape after he lodged a complaint against Samajwadi party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav for allegedly threatening him.

Now IAS officer Surya Pratap Singh faces a similar fate. Singh had sought voluntarily retirement (VRS) saying that he would prefer to get out of the system and work for public welfare as an activist. 

Instead of approving Singh's retirement under VRS, the 1982-batch UP cadre officer who had earned the reputation of an anti-corruption crusader was transferred from his post as Principal Secretary, Public Enterprises Department and was put under waiting. As Singh wrote on his Facebook page on Saturday, an officer of in his position is kept under waiting only when there is something wrong in his department and an investigation is due. Singh says he has asked the state government to either grant him the VRS or tell him why is he under waiting.

लो हम सड़क पर आ गए!अखवारों से ज्ञात हुआ कि आज मेरा स्थानांतरण कर 'प्रतीक्षा' में रख दिया गया | किसी विभाग से किसी प्रमु...

Posted by Surya Pratap Singh Ias on Friday, July 31, 2015

Singh also wrote, "The democratic system of UP is only a delusion and is used for exploiting the poor and the victims."

Singh has been replaced by Pradeep Shukla who was an accused in the Rs.100 billion NRHM scam. Local media also reports that the UP government is going to take disciplinary action against Singh although the reason for the same hasn't been revealed yet. According to local media reports, Singh will be tried for not adhering to his responsibilities as a PS of his own department and indulging his time in other activities instead of duty. Although Singh clarifies in his Facebook post that he does work as an activist and joins people's movement, he says he only does it in his spare time when he is not on duty. 

On Sunday,  a Zee correspondent approached UP's state tourism minister Om Prakash Singh for a comment on the matter. "Officers are the servants of the government and they should be aware of their limits. They should focus on the job assigned to them and keep away from other subjects", Om Prakash said. "If they cross their limits, they will have to face dire consequences," he added.

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