Senior Bihar Police officer Vikas Vaibhav, who had tweeted his “hurt” over the alleged misbehaviour by his superior at a meeting, has been issued a show cause notice and asked to reply within 24 hours why disciplinary action should not be taken against him, officials familiar with the matter said on Friday, even as chief minister Nitish Kumar expressed his displeasure about officials airing their grievances in public.
On Wednesday, Vaibhav, a 2003-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, had tweeted, “I had assumed the responsibility as inspector general (homeguard & fire services) on October 18, 2022, and have been trying my level best to discharge my duties. However, every day since then, unnecessarily getting abuses from the DG Madam (recorded too). Really feeling hurt today.”
Later, he had also applied for a two-month leave, citing personal reasons.
Vaibhav, in his tweet which has since been deleted, was apparently referring to director general (DG) of home guards and fire services, Shobha Ohotker.
On Friday, Ohotker issued a show-cause notice to Vaibhav for allegedly violating the provisions of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and trying to malign the image of a senior officer by taking recourse to social media.
“Your tweet is getting viral on Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and other social media groups in which you have levelled baseless allegations against a senior officer, in violation of various sections under the All-India Service Rules, 1968,” Ohotkar has said in the notice, which has been seen by HT.
“The matter of recording (of meetings) by you has been brought into the public domain. It is clear from this that the discussions held in office meetings are recorded by you. This shows your wrong intention. It is also in violation of relevant provisions of the Official Secrets Act,” the notice said.
“Kindly clarify within 24 hours as to why disciplinary action should not be recommended against you to the government,” she further says in the notice, which has also been marked to additional chief secretary (home) Chaitanya Prasad.
According to officials familiar with the matter, Ohotker also rejected the officer’s leave application on the ground that since he was in the purchase and inspection committees for procurement of equipment, the process would be disrupted in his absence at the end of the financial year.
Neither Vaibhav nor Ohatker, who is an IPS officer of 1990 batch, has spoken to the media on the issue.
Meanwhile, chief minister Nitish Kumar said Thursday it was not good on the part of senior officials to tweet their grievances. “If there is any issue, they should bring it to the notice of seniors personally for smooth resolution and not bring it on public platform. That is the not the way. I have asked the officials to look into the matter and resolve it,” he said.
The latest incident comes at a time when the state government is probing alleged use of foul language by senior IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officer K K Pathak, currently additional chief secretary (ACS), department of prohibition and excise, after a video clip purportedly showing his outburst against Bihar Administrative Service Association (BASA) officials went viral on the social media. Pathak later regretted his language at the meeting, but the inquiry is on.