Senior IAS officer Alok Ranjan got a massive relief after Supreme Court rejected a petition filed against his appointment as acting Chief Secretary of the state on Thursday.
The petition was filed by one Gaurav Upadhaya who argued that as Ranjan was facing CBI enquiry in corruption case so he could not be allowed to take charge as Chief Secretary or work as Acting Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh.
The Supreme Court has stuck down the petition on the plea that Ranjan was not involved in any way into the corruption thus paving the way for his further promotion.
Alok Ranjan is presently Agriculture Production Commissioner as well as acting Chief Secretary of the state in the absence of Chief Secretary Jawed Usmani.
When asked about the case Ranjan told The Pioneer that in 2006 when he was Managing Director of NAFED he had unearthed a corruption of Rs 149 crore, He filed an FIR with the CBI and even persuaded the case so that the guilty could be punished.
"I was the whistle blower in this case. The Bombay High Court in its judgement of August, 2012 acquitted me and even mentioned that there is no corruption charge against me. The court even said that I was the man who initiated the probe and vigorously worked to bring the guilty to book," Ranjan said.
The court has however questioned the role of Homi Rajvanshi, who was Additional Managing Director of NAFED at that time.
Once acquitted by the High Court, one Gaurav Upadhya moved the Supreme Court saying Ranjan should be prevented from working as acting Chief Secretary. His petition has been dismissed.
Meanwhile, Ranjan has worked as acting Chief Secretary quite a number of times and he is also President of the UP IAS Association.