Lok Satta condemns transfer of officer probing Robert Vadra land deals

Lok Satta Party national President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan today strongly condemned the Haryana Government for transferring senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka who is probing alleged undervaluation of properties dealt with by Mr. Robert Vadra and his companies.

The State Government has eased out an inconvenient officer to obstruct investigation and protect vested interests, Dr. JP said in a media statement.

Dr. JP demanded that the Haryana Government reinstate the officer immediately and publish a white paper on all Government land deals with individuals, organizations and companies. All files and papers relating to the land transfer involving Mr. Vadra and DLF as well as transfer of Mr. Khemka must be made public.

Mr. Ashok Khemka was Director General of Land Consolidation and Land Records-cum-Inspector-General of Registration prior to his transfer. He cancelled the mutation of a piece of land sold by Mr. Vadra and ordered an inquiry into the undervaluation of some of his land deals. Significantly, the transfer order was served on him on the night of October 11 while he ordered the investigation into the land deals on October 8. Mr. Khemka had been in the post of Director General for less than two months.

Dr. JP pointed out that the transfer runs counter to the recommendations of the Administrative Reforms Commission of which he was a member and many other committees in the past. All of them had suggested that officers should have security of tenure of three to five years in a post and not be at the mercy of political bosses. They should be chosen carefully and given appropriate assignments, the ARC had suggested.

The very fact that Mr. Khemka suffered 40 transfers in 20 years testifies to the way Governments function, commented Dr. JP.