Haryana Declines to Grant Nod to FIRs Against Ashok Khemka, IAS Colleague

After Three Years, Police Will Seek Cancellation of FIR in Court

- Hitender Rao

CHANDIGARH: 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.