Senior IAS Officer Ashok Khemka, recognised for his integrity over a distinguished 33-year profession with 57 postings, has been assigned a key division simply 5 months earlier than his retirement.
On Sunday, the 1991-batch officer, who beforehand served as extra chief secretary within the printing and stationery division was appointed as ACS for the transport division, taking up from 1994-batch IPS officer Navdeep Vrik. Khemka retires on April 30, 2025.
Ashok Khemka returned to the transport division, now overseen by minister Anil Vij, practically a decade after his switch as transport commissioner through the first time period of the BJP authorities led by Manohar Lal Khattar.
The IAS officer had served solely 4 months within the transport division at the moment. As transport commissioner, he had declined to situation health certificates for outsized vehicles and trailers carrying vehicles and white items, leading to a truckers’ strike in January.
The strike by truckers within the state was known as off after the federal government gave them a one-year deadline to switch their automobiles in keeping with the Central Motor Car Guidelines (CMVR), 1989.
“Tried arduous to deal with corruption and produce reforms in Transport regardless of extreme limitations and entrenched pursuits. Second is really painful,” Khemka had then stated in a tweet 10 years in the past, after he was moved to archaeology and museums division by the then state authorities.
Final 12 months, Khemka had written to the then chief minister Khattar and supplied to “root out corruption” with a stint within the vigilance division.
Khemka — whose skilled life has been marked by frequent transfers, typically to insignificant departments — had stated he had sacrificed his service profession in his zeal to finish corruption.
Within the letter dated January 23, 2023, he wrote “lopsided distribution of labor doesn’t serve public curiosity.”
He had supplied his companies to go the Vigilance Bureau “to root out corruption” and talked about that he has all the time been on the forefront within the combat towards graft and vigilance is the principle arm of the federal government to root out corruption.
“In the direction of the top of my service profession, I provide my companies to go the vigilance division to root out corruption. If given a chance, I guarantee you there can be actual conflict towards corruption and nobody nonetheless excessive and mighty can be spared,” the IAS officer had written.
In the course of the previous 12 years, Khemka has been posted in departments, thought of ‘low profile.’ Over his total profession, on a median, he has been transferred about each six months.
Khemka has, previously, indicated some disappointment over having been “left behind” in his profession.
After a spherical of promotions two years again, he had then tweeted, “Congratulations to my batchmates newly appointed as Secretaries to GOI! Whereas that is an event for merry, it brings equal measure of despondency for one’s personal self having been left behind. Straight timber are all the time lower first. No regrets. With renewed resolve, I shall persist.”
With PTI inputs
