Senior Indian diplomat Harish Kumar Dogra was embroiled in a controversy that led to withdrawal of his diplomatic accreditation as India's High Commissioner to New Zealand.
Updated at 5.20 pm
NEW DELHI: Senior Indian diplomat Harish Kumar Dogra, embroiled in a controversy that has led to withdrawal of his diplomatic accreditation as India's High Commissioner to New Zealand, has decided to return to India where he is likely to face action for defying the government.
"He (Dogra) is a senior government official. He will return," his lawyer Sanchit Sahajpal said here on Friday.
Sahajpal, who has filed an application before the Central Administrative Tribunal challenging Dogra's recall, denied the diplomat would seek asylum in New Zealand.
He said that he could not give a timeframe for the return as it would depend on the settling down of Dogra's family there. Dogra's wife Neeta and son, who has some business interests in New Zealand, have decided to settle down in the country. Neeta has applied for a visa to stay on.
Acting tough against defiant Dogra, the government stripped him of his accreditation as High Commissioner to New Zealand on April 18, about a month-and-a-half after he was recalled following complaints against him.
The allegations included a claim that a staff member had left Cabinet Minister Phil Goff's passport unattended for two days. A spokesman for Goff told New Zealand's news agency NZPA that the minister, then holding foreign affairs portfolio, had applied for a visa for India for a trip including the Maldives and Sri Lanka to see tsunami damage.
He submitted his passport to the office and when Goff's private secretary inquired about its whereabouts, he was told it had been misplaced. The High Commission office found it a couple of days later, the spokesman said.
Describing the developments related to Dogra as "awkward", New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clarke said if he seeks refugee status, he would be told the government would prefer him to leave.
Clarke's spokesperson told New Zealand's news agency NZPA that a request for revoke of Dogra's accreditation has been passed on to the department concerned.
This gives Dogra a grace period to either leave the country or apply for a visa.
The secretary-rank Indian Foreign Service officer had defied the recall order and instead demanded the resignation of Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, whom he accused of "violating" the rules in an eight-page letter whose contents were published in media in New Zealand.
The defiance angered the government which issued an ultimatum to Dogra, forcing him to hand over charge to Deputy Chief of Mission on last Saturday. He proceeded on leave till Saran retires in September-end.
Posted in Wellington two years ago, Dogra was recalled on March 1 as per the "relevant service rules", Sarna said. The recall has been ordered under the IFS (Pay, Leave and Compensatory Allowances) Rules.
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