Ashok Khemka: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|IAS Officer}}{{Multiple issues|

| honorific_suffix  = [[Indian Administrative Service| IAS]]

'''Ashok Khemka''' (अशोक खेमका) is an Indian career civil servant. He is an [[Indian Administrative Service]] officer of 1991 batch. He is best known for cancelling the mutation of [[Sonia Gandhi]]'s son-in-law [[Robert Vadra]]'s illegal land deal in [[Gurgaon]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/Punjab/Chandigarh/Officer-with-impeccable-integrity-media-s-delight/SP-Article1-945814.aspx |title=Officer with impeccable integrity|publisher=Hindustan Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title= Reward for honesty: Mental Torture, Mental Trauma, Mental Agony, Insult and Humiliation.|url=http://u-said-it-right.blogspot.in/2013/11/ashok-khemka-victim-of-political.html|publisher=U Said It ! Third Perspective by Civil Society|date=15 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Ashok Khemka's Crime? Durga Shakti's Crime? Honesty !!|url=http://indiaopines.com/ashok-khemka-crime-durga-shaktis-crime-honesty/|publisher=India Opines|access-date=16 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216080515/http://indiaopines.com/ashok-khemka-crime-durga-shaktis-crime-honesty/|archive-date=16 December 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>  

As of November 2019, he has been transferred 53 times in 28 years by state governments after he exposed [[corruption]] in the departments he was posted in.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/ashok-khemka-transfer-52nd-time-haryana-1469613-2019-03-03|title=IAS officer Ashok Khemka transferred for 52nd time in 27-year career}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/karriere/ausland/ashok-khemka-in-indien-unbequemer-beamter-45-mal-versetzt-a-1026822.html|title= Unbequemer Beamter - Von dauernder Versetzung gefährdet |newspaper=[[Der Spiegel]]|date=15 April 2015}}</ref> He is a [[whistleblower]] of several scams that took place under [[Bhupinder Hooda]]'s regime, including the [[Robert Vadra DLF land grab scam]], [[Sonepat-Kharkhoda IMT land scam case]] and [[Garhi Sampla Uddar Gagan land scam]].  

Ashok Khemka is Haryana's second-most transferred bureaucrat after a retired IAS officer<ref>elevated from [[Haryana Civil Service]]</ref> Pradeep Kasni, who had been transferred 71 times in 35 years.<ref>{{cite web

Ashok Khemka was born in Kolkata, [[India]]. He was born in a lower middle class family. His father was a clerk in a jute family. He graduated from the [[Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur]] in 1988 with a B.Tech degree in [[Computer Science Engineering]] and followed it up with a [[Philosophy of Doctorate|Ph.D]] in [[Computer Science]] from the [[Tata Institute of Fundamental Research]], Mumbai<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/India/Who-is-Ashok-Khemka/Article1-945730.aspx|title=Who is Ashok Khemka, Whistleblower Khemka shifted 40 times in 21 years|publisher=Hindustan Times Portal|date=16 October 2012}}</ref> and an [[Master of Business Administration|MBA]] degree in Business Administration and Finance. Thereafter, he gave his [[Indian Administrative Service|IAS]] exams and got selected in the Haryana cadre. He also holds an MA Economics degree from [[IGNOU]].  

He is currently a degree candidate for [[Bachelor of Laws]] at [[Panjab University]].

Khemka belongs to the 1991 batch [[Indian Administrative Service|IAS]] of the Haryana Cadre.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/India/Who-is-Ashok-Khemka/Article1-945730.aspx|title=Whistleblower Khemka shifted 40 times in 21 years|newspaper=[[Hindustan Times]]}}</ref> He has been repeatedly transferred by various state governments in his home cadre of Haryana after he exposed corruption in the departments he was posted in.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/time-to-check-the-khemka-syndrome/article4782066.ece|title=Time to check the Khemka syndrome |newspaper=[[The Hindu]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/i-am-not-a-quitter-will-stay-in-the-system-ashok-khemka-352878|title=I am not a quitter, will stay in the system: Ashok Khemka|newspaper=[[NDTV]]|access-date= 11 April 2013|date=11 April 2013}}</ref>

Khemka was posted as Secretary to the Govt. of [[Haryana]], Department of Archives and Archaeology on 4 April 2013.<ref name=TR>{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/ias-officer-ashok-khemka-transferred-again/article4580639.ece |title=Khemka shifted again as he exposes seedy deal|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]}}</ref> He was also given the charge of DG Archives and Archaeology on 26 April 2013.<ref name=ERG>{{cite web|title=Executive Record of Ashok Khemka|url=http://persmin.nic.in/ersheet/MultipleERS.asp?HiddenStr=01HY020600|publisher=GOI|access-date=19 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019191841/http://persmin.nic.in/ersheet/MultipleERS.asp?HiddenStr=01HY020600|archive-date=19 October 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> This was his 45th posting in his 20-year career excluding his 2 yr training period.<ref name=ERG /> In the previous month, he had exposed a deal that he thought to be untoward and had requested an inquiry by the [[Central Bureau of Investigation]]. The government of Haryana refused this{{clarify|reason=CBI is a national body - I do not understand why the govt of Haryana had a say in the matter|date=August 2013}} and Bhiwani-based [[NGO]] filed [[Public-interest litigation (India)|PIL]] on the same scam.{{citation needed|date=August 2013}}On 18 October 2013, [[Central Bureau of Investigation|CBI]] had registered a preliminary enquiry into the alleged irregularities in the purchase of wheat seeds in [[Haryana Seeds Development Corporation|HSDC]] seeking registration of a case against officials of National Cooperative Consumers Federation and National Agriculture Cooperative Marketing Federation for selling seeds at inflated prices to [[Haryana Seeds Development Corporation|HSDC]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/cbi-begins-inquiry-into-ashok-khemkas-complaint/articleshow/24362108.cms|title=CBI begins inquiry into Ashok Khemka's complaint|newspaper=The Economic Times|access-date= 19 October 2013|date=19 October 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.newsx.com/national/top-stories/itemlist/tag/Haryana%20Seed%20Development%20Corporation|title=CBI begins inquiry into Khemka's complaint on seed supply|newspaper=NewsX|access-date=18 October 2013|date=18 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020083850/http://www.newsx.com/national/top-stories/itemlist/tag/Haryana%20Seed%20Development%20Corporation|archive-date=20 October 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

"And the transfer this time was quite humiliating. At 3:30 p.m, an officer of the rank of Under Secretary of the government, at least five levels below me, appeared with an order of the Principal Secretary of the Agriculture, appointing him as the MD of the Corporation and asked me to step down," Khemka told news channels.<ref name=TR /> Previously Ashok Khemka was [[Managing Director]] in [[Haryana Seeds Development Corporation]].<ref name="TR" />

He was awarded the S.R. Jindal Prize in 2011 for "Crusade against Corruption" with a cash prize of Rs. 10 Lakhs along with [[Sanjiv Chaturvedi]] for his efforts in exposing corruption in high places. He also received the Manjunath Shanmugam Trust Commendation on Public Works in 2009.<ref name=ERG />

[[Category:Indian civil servants]]

[[Category:Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur alumni]]