It has been more than 12 years since senior Haryana cadre IAS officer Ashok Khemka highlighted the alleged irregularities in the land deal between Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi’s husband Robert Vadra‘s Skylight Hospitality and DLF Universal Ltd.While multiple investigating agencies are yet to nail anybody for the alleged irregularities in the land deal, Khemka is set to retire Wednesday.
On April 15, Vadra appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over alleged irregularities in his company’s land deal in 2007-08.
A 1991-batch IAS officer, Dr Khemka will complete his 33-year, seven-month-long bureaucratic career on his birthday on April 30. He will turn 60 Wednesday. He is retiring as additional chief secretary in the transport department, a post he assumed in December 2024. Khemka had previously served in the transport department about a decade ago as transport commissioner. He had spent around four months in the department at that time.
Known for his crusade against corruption and malpractices, Khemka’s bureaucratic career coincided with the tenures of seven Haryana chief ministers: Om Prakash Chautala, Bhajan Lal, Bansi Lal, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Manohar Lal Khattar, and Nayab Singh Saini.
Khemka was transferred 57 times, apparently the highest among the state’s bureaucracy. Despite his multiple transfers or short stints in a particular department, Khemka consistently highlighted alleged irregularities that came to his notice. Ever since he brought up the Vadra-DLF land deal, he has been posted in “not-so-significant” departments, such as archaeology and printing and stationery.
Khemka was born in Kolkata and earned his BTech in computer science and engineering from IIT Kharagpur in 1988. He subsequently earned a Phd in computer science from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and an MBA, specialising in business administration and finance. He joined the civil services in 1991 in the Haryana cadre. During his service tenure, he also completed his LLB from Panjab University.
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