Close on the heels of suspension of home secretary Sarvesh Chandra Mishra on Sunday, state government further cracked down over `letter controvery’ when they also shunted out Principal Secretary(Home)R M Srivastava and replaced him by 1979 batch IAS officer Anil Kumar Gupta, on Tuesday morning. Soon after taking charge, Gupta said that he sees no deterioration in law and order and that his immediate priority is to ensure peace in Faizabad during `Sankalp Diwas’ of Vishwa Hindi Parishad as well as to avert any untoward incident during festivals of both the two prominent communities. RM Srivastava has been kept in waiting.
The removal of RM Srivastava comes in the wake of the issuance of a controversial letter last week by the Home Department which erroneously stated agenda of a meeting about reconstruction of Ayodhya temple on the lines of Somnath temple of Gujarat. Faced with much embarrassment on the issue, the state government has already suspended two officials including home secretary. Departmental enquiry has been also ordered in the matter.
A letter sent to many senior state officials was issued for October 14 meeting on reconstruction of Ayodhya temple on the lines of Somnath temple. Principal secretary(home) R M Srivastava had hurriedly called a press conference on October 12 to apologise for the goof up stating that no such meeting was planned. The state government, in a follow up action, suspended a section officer concerned and transferred secretary(home) Sarvesh Chandra Mishra under whose signature the letter was issued. later, Mr Mishra was also suspended.
Anil Kumar Gupta, once considered very close to political leadership, was presently posted to low profile post as member, Revenue Board. Though no reason was cited for the transfer of Srivastava, a 1982 batch IAS officer but it is believed to be a fallout of the letter controversy. The controversy had erupted over a communique by the state Home Secretary convening a meeting to discuss the "reconstruction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya on the lines of Somnath Temple," with a red-faced SP government calling it an "error" and promising action against the guilty. The Principal Secretary (Home) had to apologise for the "error" and take responsibility for the folly of "junior level" officials.