It will not be easy for IAS Subodh Agarwal to forget the month of December 2025. This month has been quite eventful for this 1988 batch senior most bureaucrat of Rajasthan.
December 2025 is the month of retirement for Agarwal, who put in 37 years of service in Rajasthan.
But weeks before his superannuation, Agarwal had to come across two incidents – one tasteful and the another distasteful clouding his shining career.
Agarwal, who is currently serving as chairman and managing director of Rajasthan Finance Corporation (RFC), has revived its fortune. He turned this PSU into a highly profitable venture reporting a nearly eighteen-fold jump in net profit to Rs 18.82 crore for FY2024-25. It was during Agarwal's tenure that RFC is set to receive a fresh capital infusion of Rs 100 crore. That way he made his last assignment memorable for him as well as for RFC.
Twist in the tale
Now the sad part of the story. At the start of his retirement month, Rajasthan government approved Anti Corruption Bureau's (ACB) request to investigate Subodh Agarwal in the alleged Rs 900 crore Jal Jeevan Mission scam, which had resulted in imprisonment of former PHED minister Mahesh Joshi – recently released on bail from The Supreme Court.
Joshi is being investigated by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) is conducting parallel investigation in this scam. ED, in the year 2023, had conducted raids in offices and residences of Subodh Agarwal who was then additional chief secretary PHED. However, ED has not taken any coercive action so far against Agarwal.
Now it is to be seen how ACB, whose prosecution rate is quite low, deals with investigation, which involves the senior most IAS – one batch senior to chief secretary V Srinivas.
The BuckStopper, run by a group of seasoned journalists, holds the powerful accountable. The buck stops with them, as they cannot shrug off their official responsibilities.
