Graft cases against IAS officers: Haryana declines to grant approval to FIRs against Ashok Khemka, IAS colleague
Khemka, a now retired 1991 batch IAS officer, was booked in April 2022 by the police for allegedly making appointments in an illegal and arbitrary manner during his stint as managing director of Haryana State Warehousing Corporation (HSWC).
The Haryana government has declined to accord ex-post facto (retrospective) approval to a first information report (FIR) registered in 2022 under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act against former IAS officer, Ashok Khemka in 2022 at Panchkula.
This means that the police after a period of three years will seek the cancellation of the FIR against the former IAS officer in a court of law. The decision comes as a major relief for Khemka who retired from service on April 30.
Khemka, a now retired 1991 batch IAS officer, was booked in April 2022 by the police for allegedly making appointments in an illegal and arbitrary manner during his stint as managing director of Haryana State Warehousing Corporation (HSWC).
The state government has also declined to grant ex post facto approval to another April 2022 FIR registered under PC Act on a cross complaint by Khemka against his IAS colleague, Sanjeev Verma who headed the Haryana State Warehousing Corporation (HSWC) when the PC Act case was registered against Khemka.
Chief minister, Nayab Saini on May 1 ordered that the plea of the police to grant ex-post facto approval for the PC Act FIRs be refused as it was not in tune with the amended anti-graft law.
Officials said that as per Section 17-A of the PC Act, prior approval of the state government is required for registering an FIR for any offence alleged to have been committed by a public servant under the act pertaining to the decisions taken in discharge of official duties. This has been held by the Supreme Court in its November 14, 2019, judgment in Yashwant Sinha versus CBI. The May 1 decision is in consonance with August 18, 2022, communication by the then chief secretary to the director general of police who had asked the police to take further action accordingly.
Hindustan Times was the first to report on April 29, 2022, that the FIR against the erstwhile civil servant was not sustainable in the eyes of law as it was registered in contravention of Section 17-A of PC Act.
This state government’s decision to decline ex post approval to FIRs was also supported by a legal opinion of 2019 tendered by the then Haryana advocate general. Officials said that the AG’s opinion said that Section 17-A cast a duty on the police officer to obtain approval from the competent authority before conducting an investigation against any public servant for the offences relatable to the discharge of his official functions or duties. Chapter 12 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) mandates that the investigation can only be conducted by the police officer after the registration of FIR. So before registering a case under provisions of PC Act against a public servant, prior approval from the competent authority is mandatory, the top law officer had held.
The Haryana Police had booked Khemka on April 26, 2022, under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act for allegedly making appointments in an illegal and arbitrary manner during his stint as managing director of Haryana State Warehousing Corporation (HSWC). Besides Khemka, a former HSWC manager Som Nath, former assistant manager SC Kansal, and former assistant Naresh Kumar were also booked on under Section 420 of the IPC for cheating and Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (criminal misconduct by a public servant).
Khemka’s colleague, Sanjeev Verma was booked the same day (April 26, 2022) under IPC provisions for allegedly framing an incorrect document with intent to cause injury, false information with intent to cause public servant to use his lawful power to the injury of another person, threatening any person to give false evidence, criminal conspiracy following a cross complaint by Khemka and on the intervention of the then home minister, Anil Vij. The police later added Section 13 of the PC Act (criminal misconduct by a public servant) in the FIR against Verma.
