Meet Ashok Khemka, the IAS officer facing his 53rd transfer in 28 years

"Phir tabadla [transferred again]," was the terse opening to a tweet on Wednesday by Ashok Khemka. The 1991-batch IAS officer, who is currently facing a record 53rd transfer in less than three decades of service, reacted strongly to his latest posting, saying the reward for honesty is humiliation.

Haryana government on Wednesday issued transfer orders to 14 IAS officers, including Khemka.

"Same thing again," Khemka tweeted. "Constitution Day was celebrated yesterday. Today, the orders and rules of the Supreme Court were violated yet again. Some will be pleased," the tweet in Hindi added.

In 2012, Khemka came under fire for cancelling a reported land deal mutation worth Rs 57 crore between real estate major DLF Universal and Robert Vadra, Priyanka Gandhi's husband, citing corrupt practices in the deal. In 2013, the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Haryana government filed a chargesheet against him for “exceeding his jurisdiction”.

The chargesheet was leaked to the media by the state government and a Hindi daily published it even before Khemka got a copy. Soon enough, he was transferred from the land acquisition department to the archives and archaeology department.

When the BJP came to power in Haryana in 2014, Khemka was appointed as transport commissioner. In April 2015, he was once again transferred to the archaeology department. The decision came after Khemka claimed to have unearthed irregularities in the transport licensing system.

Born in a middle-class Marwari family in north Kolkata’s Grey Street, Khemka studied at St Xavier’s College, becoming an active member of the students’ union. He led protests against hikes in power tariff and bus fare in the city. 

In July 2015, after his transfer from the transport department to the archaeology department, he spoke to THE WEEK. He said he received threats and that he was worried about his family’s safety. “My sons [Shreenath and Ganesh] went to school on their bicycles at that time. There were instances where ‘friends’ came and subtly delivered the message that I should be mindful of their safety,” he said.

"Late at night, there would be blank calls or miscreants would ring our door bell,” says Jyoti, his wife, who is originally from Delhi. But Khemka then did not seem to want any security cover for himself or his family. “We would be marked,” he said.

On the Vadra scandal allegations and the measures that followed, he then told THE WEEK that he met CM Hooda two days before demitting office. “I had gone to visit him in keeping with my usual practice of saying goodbye to chief ministers I work with,” says Khemka. “He apologised for the hardships he caused me and requested me to tender an apology so that he could withdraw the state government’s chargesheet against me. I refused. He seemed truly repentant.”

The official, who was posted as principal secretary in Haryana's science and technology department in March, faces next assignment as principal secretary, Archives, Archaeology and Museums Department, according to an official statement.