Haryana Government hounding Ashok Khemka: RK Singh

Backing suspended IAS officer Ashok Khemka, former Union Home Secretary and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader R.K. Singh on Saturday said the Haryana Government is trying to hound Khemka for carrying out his duties properly.

Reacting to the Haryana Government’s decision to order a CBI inquiry against Khemka, Singh said, “I think the government is deliberately trying to trouble Khemka, as he did the right thing. They are trying to hound him for carrying out his duties.”

Singh’s comment came shortly after the Haryana Government ordered an inquiry by the CBI against Khemka for awarding a contract to a company in Gujarat worth eight crore rupees. The allegations against Khemka pertain to 2009 when he was the Managing Director of the State Warehouse Corporation.

The Haryana Government has alleged that Khemka had reportedly changed the terms and conditions listed in the contract without seeking its consent.

Khemka has been an Indian Administrative Service officer for 23 years, and has alleged that he is being persecuted for challenging land deals involving Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Khemka, an IAS officer of the 1991 batch has been transferred over 45 times in his career so far. He was in news in October 2012 for canceling the mutation of Vadra's DLF land deal. He is also known to have pointed out other government wrong doings in various land deals in Haryana.

In October 2013, the Supreme Court had asked the central and state governments to set a fixed tenure for bureaucrats who were often prone to frequent transfers, insulating them from political interference.