Five postings within Four months; Apprehending profound implications; Prays for returning to Delhi
Jammu Tawi, August 29:
As per a news report, an IAS officer, Ashok Kumar Parmar, has filed a complaint with the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) against Lt Governor Manoj Sinha and chief secretary Arun Kumar Mehta for “inflicting harassment and humiliation upon him.”
The 1992 AGMUT cadre IAS and 9th in seniority among the erstwhile JK Cadre Officers, Parmar, who had highlighted “irregularities” in the implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission in Jammu Kashmir, has alleged in a complaint to the chairman NCSC that he was frequently transferred solely because he blew the whistle and highlighted “bunglings” in the implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission of Jal Shakti Department in J&K.
“I have apprehensions that they might go to any extent to damage my reputation and career by taking any arbitrary actions against me to implicate me in false cases with the help of anonymous / pseudonymous complainants as I had pointed out many financial irregularities and acts of omission and commission of Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary, UT of Jammu and Kashmir, Shri Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to Hon'ble Lieutenant Governor of UT of J&K and Shri Shaleen Kabra, IAS (AGMUT: 1992), Principal Secretary, Jal Shakti Department, Shri Basharat Jeelani Kawoosa, then Chief Engineer, PHE Kashmir, Shri Manesh Bhat, the then Chief Engineer, PHE, Jammu and Shri Humesh Manchanda, present Chief Engineer, PHE, Jammu in implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission(JJM).
Parmar, who is presently posted as the Chairman of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, has accused Sinha and Mehta of “harassment, humiliation, intimidation, atrocious behaviour, and frequent transfers solely because he blew the whistle and highlighted bunglings in the implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission.”
He further said in his complaint, ‘if my services are not required in UT of Jammu and Kashmir, I may be transferred out from J&K and suitably posted in UT of Delhi so that I can spend my last tenure of my service with my family…'
On contacting the office of Secretary, NCSC, the respondent without identifying himself said “not in a position to confirm about the complaint and further, we are not supposed to share such information with the third party. However, the Northlines procured a copy of the complaint from other reliable sources.”
On May 4, 2022, Parmar was appointed as the principal secretary of the Jal Shakti Department in J&K.
In his comprehensive complaint dated August 17, the officer hailing from Gujarat, made startling revelations that “LG Manoj Sinha on 6 June 2022 had thrown him out of the meeting room with the objective to harass and humiliate him without any fault and this was done in front of all the administrative secretaries of UT of J&K.”
He also claimed that “Chief Secretary of J&K Dr Arun Kumar Mehta on 25 July 2023 also humiliated and threw him out of the meeting of the Committee of Secretaries without any fault, and he has been subjected to frequent transfers in violation of the transfer policy of the government of India.”
He also claimed that the intimidation and harassment were done on purpose because of prejudice and bias against him as a Scheduled Caste and his act of highlighting bunglings in the Jal Jeevan Mission.
Parmar also claimed in his complaint that he informed L-G Manoj Sinha, Chief Secretary Mehta, and Advisor to LG RR Bhatnagar about the “dismal status of implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission via his letter dated 20 July, 2022 that Jal Jeevan Mission is being implemented in J&K without doing SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) Analysis and pointed out in the meeting dated 2 August 2022
The IAS officer also claimed that the complainant was a Scheduled Caste. IAS Officer is concerned that LG J&K and Chief Secretary will go to any extent to harm his reputation and career by implicating him in false cases because he has pointed out numerous financial irregularities and acts of omission and commission committed by Mehta, Chief Secretary, RR Bhatnagar Advisor to LG, and others in the implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission.
He wrote that he had informed the Prime Minister's Office, the Home Ministry, and the Jal Shakti Ministry about J&K officers providing “false, concocted, misleading, and factually incorrect figures regarding implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), under which every rural household is to be provided with tap water by 2024.”
