Chandigarh: Senior IAS officer of Haryana Ashok Khemka slammed the CBI Monday, saying the premier investigating agency spends more than Rs 800 crore every year but has no accountability and nothing much to show as output.
He made the allegation in a tweet.
The 1991-batch IAS officer, who is currently posted as a principal secretary in Haryana’s Department of Archives, Archaeology and Museums, has around over 3.7 lakh followers on Twitter.
He said the CBI should be asked how many cases it has successfully solved, convictions made so far and people who were let off. “Has any prominent person been punished?” Khemka asked in his tweet.
CBI का सालाना बजट 800 करोड़ रुपये। किसे सजा हुई, कौन बरी हुआ, किसे लटकाया, जवाबदेही कैसे तय हो? पिछले सालों का ही हिसाब कर लो। किस बड़े आदमी की सजा हुई? हाथी के दांत दिखाने के कुछ और खाने के कुछ और होते हैं।
— Ashok Khemka (@AshokKhemka_IAS) August 31, 2020
While Khemka refused to give ThePrint a comment when asked about the context of his tweet, he replied to some of the queries posted by users on the micro-blogging site. He spoke about the Bofors scandal and the 2G scam that were handled by the CBI.
What is the solution to a weak character?
— Ashok Khemka (@AshokKhemka_IAS) August 31, 2020
किस पुलिस को आरोपी के बरी होने पर सजा हुई? बताएं ।
बोफोर्स? 2G स्पेक्ट्रम? या कोई और?— Ashok Khemka (@AshokKhemka_IAS) August 31, 2020
ऊपर वाले की अदालत के लिए CBI की जरूरत है?
— Ashok Khemka (@AshokKhemka_IAS) August 31, 2020
प्रश्न यह है कि ईमानदार एवं प्रभावी अफसर की कौन नियुक्ति करेगा? सभी को लचीला मेरुदंड पसंद आता है।
— Ashok Khemka (@AshokKhemka_IAS) August 31, 2020
A close friend of Khemka, who did not want to be named, told ThePrint that his taking on the CBI had to do with his “sense of disappointment with the organisation”.
“For the past so many years, the CBI has been at the helm of investigating some of the biggest corruption cases and scams in the country but there has been no outcome whatsoever in any of these cases,” said the friend.
He added, “Now, instead of focusing their resources and energies on nabbing those involved in the multiple banking sector scams in the country, the CBI is busy trying to nab an actress in an alleged murder case of another actor.”
Also read: Kejriwal and Khattar forgot Vadra deals. Only IAS Ashok Khemka stuck to fighting corruption
Khemka transferred 53 times in 28 years
A source close to Khemka also recalled a complaint the IAS officer had placed with the CBI in March 2013 when he was the managing director of the Haryana Seeds Development Corporation Limited (HSDC).
Khemka had then exposed a scam, alleging that seeds were being purchased at higher rates by the corporation.
He had demanded registration of cases against officials of the National Cooperative Consumers Federation and the National Agriculture Cooperative Marketing Federation for selling seeds at inflated prices to the HSDC. Khemka was transferred out of the corporation in April 2013.
In October 2013, the CBI had registered a preliminary probe into Khemka’s complaint but no FIR has been registered since. According to the source quoted above, Khemka has been asking the CBI to give him a copy of the report of its preliminary probe, under the RTI Act, which the agency has refused.
Khemka came into national limelight after he cancelled a land deal between Robert Vadra and the DLF in October 2012.
He has been transferred 53 times since his first posting in 1993. Another officer who has been transferred most is his cadre colleague Pradeep Kasni — transferred 71 times in his 35-year-long career.
Also read: Delhi HC orders Bihar govt to pay Rs 5 lakh to IAS officer it ‘harassed’, orders his transfer
Over the years since independence we have been innovative in devising methods of robbing the exchequer no matter what the cost. This has destroyed the confidence in the governance system. When we say no accountability, what we mean is the day light robbery. There are thieves all across.
So Mr. KHEMA should expose the members of his own elite club in stead of talking about something which a little distance away. If the clan was accountable, he would not have had the number of transfers which seperate him from the peers.
We are encouraging a system which inspires no faith in any organ of the governance, and THE SO CALLED ACTIVISTS / CRUSADERS love to come on the front pages for further damaging the system instead of correcting it.
I support Mr Khemka ji who raised the issue of accountability of CBI.
800 crore is PM-Save fund, for that it is small price the Bhaktas havevto pay! Khemka is right in saying that it has become plum posting for incompetent lot, mostly from Gujarat!