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Visually challenged IAS officer’s case; Ex-CS faces contempt for violating esprit de corps
By M K Shukla & Rakesh Ranjan- 27 Dec 2020
1806New Delhi (27.12.2020): The lack of esprit de corps has been not only undermining the efficiency and unity of All-India Services but is also tarnishing their image - perhaps beyond redemption. The latest case of a vicious internecine conflict shows how far an IAS officer can go to harm the interest of a fellow IAS officer- who is visually impaired and thus facing a lot of other challenges that every 'Divyang' faces. And the case shows even the courts are not liking the prevalence of pettiness among the IAS officers towards their brother/sister officers. Last week, the Punjab and Haryana High Court lashed out at former Haryana chief secretary Keshni Anand Arora (Retd IAS:1983:HY) for her “attempt to play fraud to circumvent the judicial order passed by the apex court,” and issued her a notice asking her why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against her. The 'fraud' that the HC referred to related to Arora's willful manipulation of the SC order directing the state government to post a visually-challenged IAS officer, Ravi Prakash Gupta (IAS:2007:HY), as deputy commissioner to enable him to earn field experience. What Arora and the state government did was to initially post Gupta as DC but did not allow him to continue beyond a few months. To all intents and purposes, it amounted to gaming the SC order by low cunning, never mind the lack of empathy it reflected on the part of Arora for a physically-challenged brother officer. The P&H HC was quick to see through the manipulation when admitting Gupta's contempt petition against the state of Haryana. Since Arora as CS had signed the order transferring Gupta from his barely five-month stint as DC Fatehabad in violation of another SC directive mandating an IAS officer's posting of at least two years in a field area, there does not seem to be a chance for her escape from HC music. “Though on the face of it, the posting of the petitioner as DC appears to be in compliance with the order of apex court, thereafter not allowing the petitioner to continue in the same post for minimum two years is deliberate attempt to outreach the order of the apex court ….We feel it appropriate to issue a notice to the author of the order dated May 18, 2020, Keshni Anand Arora, the then chief secretary, Haryana, and to seek an explanation why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against her for the aforesaid deliberate act,” said the division bench of HC comprising Justice S N Satyanarayana and Justice Rajesh Bhardwaj. The notice issued to Arora directs her to file her response by January 06, 2020. Gupta's case is interesting in many ways for serving IAS officers: It demonstrates that the seeping and all-pervasive lack of esprit de corps not only corrodes their morale and demeans the service but also invites legal censure; It also demonstrates that, when in the position of transfer and posting of fellow officers, they must abide by the rules whatsoever the situation. It couldn't be Arora's case that she was unaware of, or ignorant about, the SC's direction in the case of T S R Subramaniyam and others versus Union of India, where it was clearly laid down that the postings of IAS officers to any place should not be disturbed for a period of two years. What makes Gupta's trail of struggle to get his due interesting and an eye-opener for IAS and other AIS officers is the sordid tale of criminal negligence of rules and procedures as established by law. What constrained Gupta to knock at the door of the P&H HC was that he was denied fieldwork as DC even while all his juniors were entrusted with the responsibility. Indeed, his first successful petition to the P&H HC on December 5, 2018 (which made the HC upheld his plea and direct the state government to give him a field posting) should have prompted the state government to rectify its decision in case it was a matter of oversight or indiscretion. But since the decision was deliberate and inspired by malice, so even when the SC dismissed on August 6, 2019, the state government's petition against the HC order, the Haryana government persisted with its remarkable obstinacy verging on obduracy to deny justice to Gupta. It's reflected in the stark time gap between the SC order of August 6, 2019, and its implementation only on December 28, 2019, when Gupta was made the Fatehabad DC. What further exposed the deep-seated malice of the state government against Gupta was the low cunning displayed in his transfer on May 18, 2020, merely five months after his posting as DC. Officers say that since Arora came from a distinguished family -her elder sisters Meenakshi Anand Chaudhary and Urvashi Gulati also retired as chief secretaries of Haryana, she should have known better before handling the case of Gupta as she did. (By M K Shukla & Rakesh Ranjan)
Visually challenged IAS officer’s case; Ex-CS faces contempt for violating esprit de corps
By M K Shukla & Rakesh Ranjan - 2020-12-27 12:50:00
New Delhi (27.12.2020): The lack of esprit de corps has been not only undermining the efficiency and unity of All-India Services but is also tarnishing their image - perhaps beyond redemption.
The latest case of a vicious internecine conflict shows how far an IAS officer can go to harm the interest of a fellow IAS officer- who is visually impaired and thus facing a lot of other challenges that every 'Divyang' faces. And the case shows even the courts are not liking the prevalence of pettiness among the IAS officers towards their brother/sister officers.
Last week, the Punjab and Haryana High Court lashed out at former Haryana chief secretary Keshni Anand Arora (Retd IAS:1983:HY) for her “attempt to play fraud to circumvent the judicial order passed by the apex court,” and issued her a notice asking her why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against her.
The 'fraud' that the HC referred to related to Arora's willful manipulation of the SC order directing the state government to post a visually-challenged IAS officer, Ravi Prakash Gupta (IAS:2007:HY), as deputy commissioner to enable him to earn field experience.
What Arora and the state government did was to initially post Gupta as DC but did not allow him to continue beyond a few months. To all intents and purposes, it amounted to gaming the SC order by low cunning, never mind the lack of empathy it reflected on the part of Arora for a physically-challenged brother officer.
The P&H HC was quick to see through the manipulation when admitting Gupta's contempt petition against the state of Haryana.
Since Arora as CS had signed the order transferring Gupta from his barely five-month stint as DC Fatehabad in violation of another SC directive mandating an IAS officer's posting of at least two years in a field area, there does not seem to be a chance for her escape from HC music.
“Though on the face of it, the posting of the petitioner as DC appears to be in compliance with the order of apex court, thereafter not allowing the petitioner to continue in the same post for minimum two years is deliberate attempt to outreach the order of the apex court ….We feel it appropriate to issue a notice to the author of the order dated May 18, 2020, Keshni Anand Arora, the then chief secretary, Haryana, and to seek an explanation why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against her for the aforesaid deliberate act,” said the division bench of HC comprising Justice S N Satyanarayana and Justice Rajesh Bhardwaj.
The notice issued to Arora directs her to file her response by January 06, 2020.
Gupta's case is interesting in many ways for serving IAS officers:
It demonstrates that the seeping and all-pervasive lack of esprit de corps not only corrodes their morale and demeans the service but also invites legal censure;
It also demonstrates that, when in the position of transfer and posting of fellow officers, they must abide by the rules whatsoever the situation.
It couldn't be Arora's case that she was unaware of, or ignorant about, the SC's direction in the case of T S R Subramaniyam and others versus Union of India, where it was clearly laid down that the postings of IAS officers to any place should not be disturbed for a period of two years.
What makes Gupta's trail of struggle to get his due interesting and an eye-opener for IAS and other AIS officers is the sordid tale of criminal negligence of rules and procedures as established by law.
What constrained Gupta to knock at the door of the P&H HC was that he was denied fieldwork as DC even while all his juniors were entrusted with the responsibility. Indeed, his first successful petition to the P&H HC on December 5, 2018 (which made the HC upheld his plea and direct the state government to give him a field posting) should have prompted the state government to rectify its decision in case it was a matter of oversight or indiscretion.
But since the decision was deliberate and inspired by malice, so even when the SC dismissed on August 6, 2019, the state government's petition against the HC order, the Haryana government persisted with its remarkable obstinacy verging on obduracy to deny justice to Gupta. It's reflected in the stark time gap between the SC order of August 6, 2019, and its implementation only on December 28, 2019, when Gupta was made the Fatehabad DC. What further exposed the deep-seated malice of the state government against Gupta was the low cunning displayed in his transfer on May 18, 2020, merely five months after his posting as DC.
Officers say that since Arora came from a distinguished family -her elder sisters Meenakshi Anand Chaudhary and Urvashi Gulati also retired as chief secretaries of Haryana, she should have known better before handling the case of Gupta as she did.
(By M K Shukla & Rakesh Ranjan)
