Giving major relief to retired Haryana cadre IAS officer Ashok Khemka (IAS;1991:HY), the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that it was a clear case of discriminatory treatment meted out to Khemka by the Centre by denying him empanelment at the level of Additional Secretary/Secretary despite granting relaxation of eligibility conditions to other officers in similar situations.
The Division Bench of Justice Harsimran Singh Sethi and Justice Deepak Manchanda took exception to the Union government denying Khemka the benefit of relaxation given to other officers in similar situations without providing any reason for its differential treatment.
The major relief for whistleblower ex-bureaucrat Khemka came in the form of the HC directing whistleblower ex-IAS Khemka to be treated as an empaneled Additional Secretary/Secretary for future assignments.
Khemka had moved a writ petition challenging three orders passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in July 2023, which rejected his claim of being treated as having been empanelled at the level of Additional Secretary/Secretary to the central government before his retirement
The Bench observed that the rules prescribed the three-year central deputation requirement for empanelment, but the Centre possessed the power to relax the condition. The court further noted that such relaxations had been granted to similarly placed IAS officers on several occasions, like a 1992-batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer was granted empanelment on March 7, 2022, by relaxing the eligibility requirement, while Khemka’s claim had been rejected earlier in 2021.
The court clearly said, “Once the Union of India exercises jurisdiction to relax the requirement in favour of similarly situated IAS officers, the non-exercise of the same will surely amount to discrimination.”
The Court held that such unequal treatment violated Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution.
The Bench said that the benefit of parity with the other similarly situated officers should have been granted to Khemka to avoid prejudice being caused to him.
The court also clarified that as Khemka had already retired, no such benefit could now be extended to him in service, as empanelment primarily served the purpose of bringing an IAS officer on deputation with the government of India.
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