Chandigarh, June 15: Ashok Khemka, the Haryana Cadre IAS officer known for being transferred nearly 60 times during his career, has won a significant legal battle.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court ruled that denying him empanelment at the level of Additional Secretary or Secretary to the Government of India was discriminatory and violated Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution.
A division bench of Justices Harsimran Singh Sethi and Deepak Manchanda allowed Khemka’s writ petition, holding that since the central government had granted relaxation of an eligibility condition to at least 20 similarly situated IAS officers including one after specifically rejecting Khemka’s claim, there was no valid reason on record to have treated him differently.
The court, directed that since Khemka has retired, he be treated as empanelled at the additional secretary/secretary level for the limited purpose of future assignments and considerations for which such empanelment is a minimum eligibility requirement.
In 2010, he was empanelled as Joint Secretary to the Government of India. When his batch-mates were being considered for empanelment as Additional Secretary and Secretary in 2019, he was left out on the ground that he had not served on central deputation for a minimum period of three years at the level of Deputy Secretary or above, which is a requirement under the applicable rules.
Khemka challenged this before the Central Administrative Tribunal, which rejected his plea in three orders passed in July 2023, holding that the rule, warranting a minimum tenure of three years as deputy secretary, could not be relaxed.
He then moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
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