CHANDIGARH: After 33 years of service during which he resisted political pressure and served with integrity, leading to 57 transfers, Ashok Khemka, a 1991 batch IAS officer of the Haryana cadre, retired on Wednesday from his last posting as Additional Chief Secretary (Transport), which he held for five months.Khemka joined the bureaucracy after a degree in mathematics from St Stephen’s College in Delhi, followed by a B.Tech in computer science and engineering from the IIT-Kharagpur, and a PhD in Computer Science from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. While in service, he also obtained an MA degree in economics from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), as well as a Bachelor of Law degree from Panjab University. Khemka’s transfers continued unabated irrespective of whether the Haryana government was led by the Congress, BJP or INLD. Averaging a transfer every seven months, his postings often reflected political discomfort with his uncompromising approach. Between 2004 and 2014, during the Congress government headed by Bhupinder Singh Hooda, he was transferred more than 21 times. Later, in the BJP-led government from 2014 under Manohar Lal Khattar, he was transferred seven times in the first five years alone. Khemka was given low-profile postings in departments such as archives, archaeology, printing and stationery, prompting him to voice concerns about being sidelined.In October 2022, when the Haryana government ignored his claim while promoting others to the secretary-rank, Khemka posted on X, “Congratulations to my batchmates newly appointed as Secretaries to GOI! While this is an occasion for merry, it brings equal measure of despondency for one’s own self having been left behind. Straight trees are always cut first. No regrets. With renewed resolve, I shall persist.”As Director General of Land Records and Consolidation in 2012, Khemka made national headlines when he cancelled the mutation of a controversial land deal between real estate giant DLF and a company owned by Robert Vadra, son-in-law of then Congress president Sonia Gandhi. He was immediately transferred by the then Congress government headed by Hooda.
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