57 postings in 33 years, who is IAS officer Ashok Khemka retiring on April 30 next year?
Ashok Khemka, a 1991-batch officer has been appointed ACS for the transport department after serving in the printing and stationery department.
Senior IAS Officer Ashok Khemka, recognised for his integrity over a distinguished 33-year career with 57 postings, has been assigned a key department just five months before his retirement.
On Sunday, the 1991-batch officer, who previously served as additional chief secretary in the printing and stationery department was appointed as ACS for the transport department, taking over from 1994-batch IPS officer Navdeep Vrik. Khemka retires on April 30, 2025.
Ashok Khemka returned to the transport department, now overseen by minister Anil Vij, nearly a decade after his transfer as transport commissioner during the first term of the BJP government led by Manohar Lal Khattar.
The IAS officer had served only four months in the transport department at that time. As transport commissioner, he had declined to issue fitness certificates for oversized trucks and trailers carrying automobiles and white goods, resulting in a truckers' strike in January.
The strike by truckers in the state was called off after the government gave them a one-year deadline to modify their vehicles in line with the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR), 1989.
“Tried hard to address corruption and bring reforms in Transport despite severe limitations and entrenched interests. Moment is truly painful,” Khemka had then said in a tweet 10 years ago, after he was moved to archaeology and museums department by the then state government.
Last year, Khemka had written to the then chief minister Khattar and offered to “root out corruption” with a stint in the vigilance department.
Khemka -- whose professional life has been marked by frequent transfers, often to insignificant departments -- had said he had sacrificed his service career in his zeal to end corruption.
In the letter dated January 23, 2023, he wrote “lopsided distribution of work does not serve public interest.”
He had offered his services to head the Vigilance Bureau “to root out corruption” and mentioned that he has always been at the forefront in the fight against graft and vigilance is the main arm of the government to root out corruption.
“Towards the end of my service career, I offer my services to head the vigilance department to root out corruption. If given an opportunity, I assure you there would be real war against corruption and no one however high and mighty will be spared,” the IAS officer had written.
During the past 12 years, Khemka has been posted in departments, considered ‘low profile.’ Over his entire career, on an average, he has been transferred about every six months.
Khemka has, in the past, indicated some disappointment over having been “left behind” in his career.
After a round of promotions two years back, he had then tweeted, “Congratulations to my batchmates newly appointed as Secretaries to GOI! While this is an occasion for merry, it brings equal measure of despondency for one's own self having been left behind. Straight trees are always cut first. No regrets. With renewed resolve, I shall persist.”
With PTI inputs
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