Rajasthan government has four commissioners, who are heading departmental enquires, probing complaints against officers. Three of them – Rajendra Vijay, Anil Kumar Agrawal and Himmat Singh Barhat – themselves are facing charges.
The fourth officer – Dr Ghanshyam who is husband of Mamta Bhupesh, former minister in Gehlot government, has also been controversial. He had issued 95 show cause notices to 5 officers when he was director in panchayatiraj department. When he got transferred, he withdrew all notices without following the due course.
Rajendra Vijay, a 2010 batch IAS officer promoted from state civil service, is facing Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) probe for accumulating asset disproportionate to income. The ACB had launched investigation when he was serving as divisional commissioner Kota. He was sent on awaiting posting order (APO) almost 3 months. While investigation is still on he was resinstated as commissioner department enquiries to decide complaints against officers.
Similarly, Anil Kumar Agrawal, a 2011 batch IAS, promoted from state services, is also facing ACB probe. He was caught by ACB in a corruption case and was also jailed in that matter. He was under suspension for two years for allegedly accepting bribe when he was working an additional director IEC, National Health Mission. He was later released on bail before being promoted to IAS from state civil service (RAS). The probe is still on.
Himmat Singh Barhat, also promoted from state service, is not facing any ACB probe. But he has been served with notice from department of personnel for issuing patta overlooking master plan and rules when he was serving as Nagar Nigam commissioner Udaipur. There has been allegation of corruption against him for land allotments flouting norms.
Fox guarding the hen house
Former IAS RC Jain said that the situation is not good for governance.
“This is just like fox guarding the hen house. How can a tainted officer be given responsibility to decide the enquiry of another officer? This is ridiculous. The state government should keep officers with clean image in these posts, what if this post is considered cold storage,” he said.
Alok Mathur is a law graduate. Journalism is his first love which he now pursues in the latter half of his career. Controversies and crime are the right triggers for him.
