The Haryana notification asking sportspersons employed by the state to deposit 33% of their earnings to the govt was put on hold by CM Manohar Lal Khattar after it triggered a huge uproar by athletes.
Chandigarh: IAS officer Ashok Khemka is courting fresh controversy after a public spat with Olympic medallist Yogeshwar Dutt who called out the Haryana sports secretary over his “Tughlaqi diktat” directing sportspersons employed by the state to deposit 33 per cent of their professional earnings to the administration.
Khemka emerged as the face of the row after he took on Dutt and others on Twitter who spoke out against the Khattar government notification. On Friday, sources told ThePrint that the Haryana sports directorate had no information about the notification nor was the file moved through it. The decision, they said, was taken at the level of state sports minister Anil Vij and Khemka.
After a huge uproar, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar withdrew the notification Friday. It was issued on 30 April this year.
This is the second round of face-off between the Haryana government and local sportspersons. Just two months ago, another row had started after the government imposed a “cut” on a cash prize for Commonwealth Games medallists who represent organisations such as the Army and the Railways in national competitions.
Tweet exchange
ऐसे अफसर से राम बचाए, जब से खेल विभाग में आए है तब से बिना सिर -पैर के तुग़लकी फ़रमान जारी किए जा रहे है।हरियाणा के खेल-विकास में आपका योगदान शून्य है किंतु ये दावा है मेरा इसके पतन में आप शत् प्रतिशत सफल हो रहे है।अब हरियाणा के नए खिलाड़ी बाहर पलायन करेंगे और SAHAB आप ज़िम्मेदार pic.twitter.com/YazW6YLqTB
— Yogeshwar Dutt (@DuttYogi) June 8, 2018
इनको तो ये भी नहीं पता की pro-league जब होती है तो खिलाड़ी जो विभिन्न camp में रहते है , इसमे हिस्सा लेते है । कितनी बार छुट्टियों का approval कहा – कहा से लेते रहेंगे।अनुभव है कि नाम-चीन खिलाड़ी जब “साहब” को सलामी नहीं ठोकते तो नए-नए पैंतरे अपनाते है उन्हे अपने पीछे भगाने के ।
— Yogeshwar Dutt (@DuttYogi) June 8, 2018
खेल एवं पुलिस दोनों में शिष्टता शोभित है। इस अधिसूचना के पहले वाणिज्यिक विज्ञापन या व्यवसायिक खेल सरकारी कर्मचारी के लिए निषिद्ध था। आपका क्रोध एवं अपशब्द दोनों ठीक नहीं। 48 दिनों के विलंब के बाद अभी अचानक यह आक्रमक प्रतिक्रिया क्यों?
— Ashok Khemka (@AshokKhemka_IAS) June 8, 2018
Media के माध्यम से आज ये नोटिफ़िकेशन सामने आया है, तब जा कर तो उन खिलाड़ियो को पता चला जिन पर इसका प्रभाव पड़ेगा।इतना बड़ा बदलाव और किसी को ख़बर भी नही।खेल के क्षेत्र से जुड़े हुए लोगो से विचार-विमर्श भी किया जा सकता था।अपनी बात-विचार दृढ़ता से रखना क्रोध-अपशब्द नही होता।
— Yogeshwar Dutt (@DuttYogi) June 8, 2018
तो आपको जानकरी होगी कि कमर्शियल विज्ञापन एवं वाणिज्यिक खेल सरकारी कर्मचारियों के लिए निषिद्ध है। अपनी बात रखिए, लेकिन मर्यादा के साथ।
— Ashok Khemka (@AshokKhemka_IAS) June 8, 2018
2007 से भारत मे सर्वाधिक प्रचलित खेल की सबसे बड़ी league चालू हुयी।सम्पूर्ण देश के खिलाड़ी चाहे किसी राज्य या संस्था के हो, हरियाणा के भी खेलते है ,आज तक उसका संज्ञान नही लिया।किसी को नही बताया गया कि आपके लिए निषिद्ध है।अचानक सिर्फ़ हरियाणा के Olympic sport खिलाड़ियो पर ही क्यूँ
— Yogeshwar Dutt (@DuttYogi) June 8, 2018
देश, प्रदेश या नियोक्ता के लिए खेलना पेशेवर खेल में नहीं आता। जब खेल के पहले आपकी निलामी होती हो और आप सबसे बड़े बोलीदाता के लिए खेलें, तो यह पेशेवर खेल हैं। सरकारी कर्मचारी के लिए यह निषिद्ध है।
— Ashok Khemka (@AshokKhemka_IAS) June 9, 2018
On Saturday, Khemka and the wrestler found themselves in a heated Twitter exchange over the order, with started with the following tweet from the latter:
“Aise afsar se Ram bachaye, jab se khel vibhaag mein aaye hain tab se bina sar-pair ke Tughlaki farmaan jaari kiye ja rahein hain,” Dutt wrote, “Haryana ke khel vikaas mein aapka yogdaan shoonya ha kintu ye daawa hai mera iske patan mein aap shat pratishat safal ho rahien hain. (God save us from such an officer. From the time he has joined the sports department he has been issuing Tughlaq-like diktats. Your contribution to sports development in the state is zero but I am sure that you are succeeding 100 per cent in destroying it).”
As Khemka replied to the jibe, saying government employees were banned from doing commercial endorsements and playing professionally before the notification, Dutt questioned the alleged secrecy with which the notification was handled.
To another post from Twitter user @rishibagree calling the directive “idiotic”, Khemka replied: “Your ill tempered outburst shows your crass ignorance.”
Why the controversy
The notification stated that athletes would be granted leave without pay for professional tournaments and that they would have to deposit a third of their earnings during this period, including from endorsements, with the Haryana State Sports Council.
In case a sportsperson was considered on duty during this period (those with prior approval from a competent authority to participate), it added, =the “full income” earned would have to be shelled out.
The money, the notification stated, would be used for the development of sports in the state.
It was feared the move would affect a large number of sportspersons employed in the various departments of the state, which often offers government jobs as a reward to outstanding athletes.
While most of these are the largest numbers are in Haryana police, scores are also posted in the departments of rural development and panchayats, education and sports.
In the eye of a storm
Khemka first hit headlines for throwing the lid off allegedly illegal land deals involving Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s industrialist brother-in-law Robert Vadra and the realty major DLF.
The Haryana-cadre officer has been transferred over 50 times in nearly three decades, under the Congress as well as the BJP.
However, few of his colleagues reportedly like him. “If he is in trouble, chances are most Haryana bureaucrats are secretly smiling. After all, Mr Khemka is said to have rubbed almost everyone he has worked with the wrong way,” said an officer who worked with Khemka some years ago.
For example, in November, Khemka tweeted about one of his colleagues, “An officer, who was member of committee that gave clean chit to VADRA-DLF land-licensing deal in 2012, is now rewarded with the lucrative post of real estate regulator. Instead of being hauled up, some continue to make hay. What could be the secret mantra of their ‘successes’?”
However, a Haryana politician added that his tweets only smacked of the injustice the governments did to him.