The Haryana State Warehousing Corporation (HSWC) terminated the services of eight more employees recruited in 2009-10, during the tenure of senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka as its managing director, after irregularities were allegedly found in their recruitment.
Incumbent managing director Sanjeev Verma, a 2004-batch IAS officer, issued the termination order on June 13.
According to the officials of HSWC, an enquiry was conducted by a team of senior officials. The enquiry committee’s findings revealed that adequate norms were not followed in the recruitment of the terminated officials, namely SK Sharma, DK Pandey, Rajesh Kumar, Dilbagh Singh, Manish Shukla, Deepak Kumar Dwivedi, Yatender Vir Tyagi and Jagdish Chander.
“These recruitments were done during the tenure of Ashok Khemka as MD, HSWC. Certain irregularities were found in these recruitments due to which services of these officials have now been terminated. Based on the enquiry committee’s findings, a criminal complaint was also lodged with the concerned police station seeking registration of an FIR pertaining to the recruitments of these eight officials. The police are investigating the complaint”, a senior officer of the HSWC said.
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PremiumBoth the IAS officers, Khemka and Verma are locked in cross-FIRs registered against each other. Although Khemka had also sought the transfer of Verma out of the HSWC citing apprehension that he might influence the witnesses or tamper with the official records, the state government has not paid any heed to the request.
The core issue pertains to the recruitment of two manager Grade-I officials (a class-III post) in the HSWC in 2010. Both the officials, Pradip Kumar and Surinder Singh, were dismissed from service by Verma on April 20, the same day when he sought an FIR against Khemka and three retired officials of the HSWC.
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In April, the controversy over alleged irregularities regarding recruitments in HSWC in 2010 took a fresh turn when home minister Anil Vij accompanied Khemka to then Panchkula deputy commissioner of police Mohit Handa’s office and directed officers to register FIR on a complaint lodged by Khemka against Verma and others.
Besides home and health, Vij also holds the portfolio of science and technology, the department in which Khemka is the additional chief secretary. On Vij’s directions, the Panchkula police registered FIR against Verma, a local resident Ravinder Kumar (whose complaint Verma had made a basis to seek an FIR against Khemka) and others on charges of criminal conspiracy and fabrication of official documents. However, the police also took action on the earlier reference sent to them by Verma and lodged another FIR against Khemka and three retired employees of HSWC under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code (IPC).
