An ugly spat between key Haryana IAS officers

It's all between friends, so why is everyone getting so worked up, asks Haryana Chief Secretary SC Chaudhury about his row with Pradeep Kasni, a senior IAS officer serving the State. Mr Chaudhury sent an SMS to his ‘friend', challenging him to reveal the contents of the messages between them over Mr Kasni red-flagging certain decisions taken by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. He first taunted Mr Kasni for attaining his “new status of a celebrity” and then dared him to — “Agar apne maa ka doodh piya hai” — tell the media about the SMSes. Well, Mr Kasni rose to the occasion, and the friendly messages are out in the public domain through the media. If this has established the IAS officer's credentials, it has severely damaged those of the Chief Secretary. The latter's response was not over an innocuous exchange of messages meant for light-hearted consumption between two friends — and “brothers” as Mr Chaudhury jovially claims. The context of the messages gives the game away, which is that Mr Kasni, as the Haryana Administrative Reforms Secretary has been facing pressure from the Chief Secretary when the former decided to question certain appointments of Information Commissioners by the Chief Minister. No wonder the episode is being referred to as ‘Khemka Part Two'.  Meanwhile, Mr Kasni was not amused over the antics of his ‘friend’ and ‘brother' and demanded an unequivocal apology over the latter's ‘threat'. The Chief Secretary could only weakly reply that he was shocked by the stand Mr Chaudhary had taken, since he had only been engaging in jest.

The two may patch up in the coming days, but the episode which led to the bad blood is not going to go away easily. Two Information Commissioners and three Right to Service Commissioners were recently administered oath of office. The Opposition has termed the appointments as “unconstitutional”. Meanwhile, Mr Chaudhary, who is set to retire, has been named as the Chairman of the Right to Service Commission. Mr Kasni has disapproved of the appointment, saying that retiring officers should not be lured through post-retirement sops. Taken together, the appointments do raise doubts about propriety, and explain the provocative conduct of the Chief Secretary. Clearly, he has gone overboard in a bid to remain in the good books of the rulers who have decided to reward him post-retirement. The problem is that the State Government has still to get over the taint of the Ashok Khemka affair. A senior IAS officer posted in Haryana, Mr Khemka was shunted out of his department and endlessly harassed after he questioned certain land deals involving Mr Robert Vadra and the State regime. He faced the ire of not just the State Government but also that of the Congress which questioned his motives. Mr Kasni does not like the comparison; he says he is not opposed to the Chief Secretary. Nor was Mr Khemka, but he was hounded.