Because we are different.

Khemka in fresh controversy

2 December 2012

statesman news service

CHANDIGARH, 2 DEC: A complaint has been filed in a local court against senior IAS officer Mr Ashok Khemka, who kicked up a political storm by alleging irregularities in Robert Vadra-DLF land deals, for alleged abetment to suicide.

The complaint was filed against him by the family of a “missing” government employee. In the complaint filed in a court in Panchkula, the son of the employee, Mr Nitin Poswal, has requested the court to direct the police to register a case against Mr Khemka. The court has deferred the case till 17 January.

Mr Poswal has said that his father, Mr Jaswant Singh, was working as a clerk with housing board headquarters, Sector 6, Panchkula, where Mr Khemka was the chief administrator.

He alleged Mr Khemka had harassed and subsequently sacked Mr Singh following which the latter went missing from home on 16 February 2007 and is yet to be traced. The complainant alleged that Mr Khemka had told Mr Singh to go somewhere and die.

The family alleges that Mr Singh went missing and perhaps took some extreme decision due to the harassment suffered at the hands of Mr Khemka. Another Housing Board employee was arrested last month for making threatening calls to Mr Khemka who had dismissed him from service in 2006.

Mr Khemka made headlines recently by cancelling the sale of over three acres of land to realty major DLF following a deal with Congress president son-in-law and businessman Mr Robert Vadra.

Shortly after he initiated a probe into the DLF-Vadra land dealings, Mr Khemka was shifted from the post of Director General, Consolidation of Land Holdings and Land Records-cum-Inspector General of Registration to the Seed Development Corporation, a non-IAS cadre post. Since them he has been raising questions over the government’s decisions.