Day after NGT rebuke, Faridabad civic body commissioner shifted
ACTION Tribunal had taken a strong note of inaction against a petrol pump in green belt, calling her approach ‘unbecoming of an officer’
CHANDIGARH: A day after the National Green Tribunal (NGT) came down heavily on Faridabad municipal corporation (MC) commissioner Anita Yadav and asked the Haryana chief secretary to replace her with a “suitable and a responsible officer”, the state government on Saturday shifted her.
On Friday, hearing an application on an illegal petrol pump in Faridabad’s green belt, the tribunal said it found the MC commissioner’s approach in not taking any action unbecoming of her position.
Yadav has been posted as director and special secretary, tourism department relieving Vikas Yadav of the charge. Additional director (urban estate Faridabad) Sonal Goel has replaced her.
While two other IAS officers were also transferred, four were given additional charges. Faridabad deputy commissioner Atul Kumar was given the additional charge of Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) administrator in Faridabad, and additional director, urban estate, Faridabad, relieving Sonal Goel of the charge.
Sonepat deputy commissioner Anshaj Singh was given the additional charge of Sonepat MC commissioner as the post was vacant, while Rajiv Rattan, special secretary, home-2 department was given additional charge of director, consolidation of landholdings and land records.
Yamunanagar deputy commissioner Mukul Kumar was given additional charge of member secretary, Haryana Backward Classes Commission, relieving Shekhar Vidyarthi while Sangeeta Tetarwal was posted as managing director, Haryana women development corporation.
‘ORDER IGNORED FOR A LONG TIME’
The NGT bench in its Friday order observed, “The least she could have done was to coordinate with any other state agency involved in the matter which has not been done. There is also no explanation why the order of this tribunal was ignored for a long time.”
The bench also directed the chief secretary to file a report within two weeks in view of the illegal operation of the petrol pump. Subsequently, in a communication to the chief secretary, state additional advocate general (AAG) Anil Grover said the tribunal initially wanted to pass a harsher order.
“However, a humble request by the AAG and the MC commissioner resulted into dilution of the order,” the communication said. The bench also observed that there have been repeated failures of the officer in performing her functions in the matters.
It’s never too late to undo the wrongs of the past for the sake of a better future. That’s precisely the message in the Narendra Modi government’s decision to scrap the entire blacklist of 314 expatriate Sikhs, save two, who had for long been denied the Indian visa due to their alleged links with the Khalistan movement.
The symbolism and significance of Friday’s announcement hasn’t been lost on anyone – as is evident from a wave of laudatory responses it has evoked from the overseas Sikhs, and political parties and even radical fringe in Punjab.
To be fair, the previous dispensations, notably the Manmohan Singh-led Congress government (2004-14), had also periodically pruned the blacklist, albeit in bits and pieces. Yet, the notoriously enigmatic catalogue, tagging a number of Punjab-origin NRI Sikhs as persona non grata, continued in the records of home ministry and Indian missions abroad.
But, it’s the Modi government which has, in a single stroke, done away with what was a painful and lingering legacy of the Sikh tumult of the 1980s.
THE BOLD MOVE IMPLIES THE INDIAN STATE TURNING A NEW LEAF ON ITS OUTREACH TO THE SIKH DIASPORA, WIDELY RECOGNISED FOR ITS RISING INFLUENCE IN POWER POLITICS, PARTICULARLY IN CANADA AND BRITAIN