Musical IAS chairs

Stability of tenure may be an administrative or police officer’s dream, but in reality it does not exist in our system where the political bosses can bring about transfers at a pinch, disregarding even Supreme Court pronouncements on the subject — as in a bench headed by Justice S. Radhakrishnan suggesting time- bound sweeping reforms in the functioning of the bureaucracy two years ago. However, even by the extreme standard of fluidity that affects the bureaucracy at large, the case of Ashok Khemka serving in Haryana is an extreme one.

Receiving his 46th transfer order in his 22nd year in the IAS must have been par for the course for an officer known to be a stickler for rules. Even so, the latest transfer stung because his transfers had become a poll issue. Having exposed the Robert Vadra land deals with the Haryana government led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Khemka was under duress until the regime changed after the 2014 Assembly election. A very recent CAG report had also upheld his principled stand.

There appears to be a division within the ruling BJP on the issue with at least one minister disagreeing with the transfer. The argument that a committee of senior IAS officers effects transfers cuts no ice in India. Khemka had apparently taken up an issue concerning overloading of goods vehicles, which may have riled the powers that be. Unless the political parties agree on allowing bureaucrats to function free of political influence, it would be impossible to expect anything but this bizarre musical chairs situation. But who is to bell the cat?