News18: Haryana: Thursday, March 01, 2018.
Known for his
honesty, IAS officer Pradeep Kasni is retiring on Wednesday after a career
spanning 34 years and 71 transfers. Kasni has not received his salary in the
past six months.
The
bureaucrat used to serve as an Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in Haryana Land
Use Board, however, according to government records, the post does not exist
any longer. Thus, Kasni has been living without a salary for the past several
months. This was revealed only after an RTI application.
Kasni has
appealed at the Central Administrative Tribunal, which will decide on the case
on March 8.
At the time
of joining the Land Use Board, Kasni had asked authorities at the state
government about the absence of staff and official files in his office. Failing
to get an answer, he filed an application and sought reply under the RTI Act.
Now, the Haryana government has admitted that the Board has not been in
existence since 2008.
The Land Use
Board was first introduced under the Department of Environment and later moved
under the Department of Agriculture.
The
Department of Agriculture later sent a proposal to the Centre to shut down the
Board, which was accepted.
Yet, the
Haryana government transferred Kasni to the defunct Land Use Board as its OSD.
Kasni is now
fighting a legal battle for his rights, which he says will continue even after
his retirement.
The
1984-batch batch Haryana Civil Services officer started his career with the
Government of Haryana in 1984 and was later elevated to the Indian
Administrative Services (IAS), while his wife Neelam Kasni worked as ADC to the
Haryana governor and retired last year.
Pradeep Kasni
was transferred the maximum number of times under the Congress regime of
Bhupinder Singh Hooda, while under the Khattar government, he was transferred
thrice in September 2016.
His hopes of
getting any important assignment were dashed after being posted as the
Divisional Commissioner of Gurgaon.
Meanwhile, he
has been active in fighting for social issues while his father Dharm Singh was
a known leader of farmer and labour movements, who had led the agitation in
Riwasa against then Haryana Chief Minister Bansilal.
As a
teenager, Pradeep Kasni would help his father in churning out articles against
then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in local newspapers.
Later in life
the IAS officer organized public rallies in support of fellow IAS officer Ashok
Khemka, who has a similar track record of numerous transfers.