HCS officers being victimised, claims their association

Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 21

Loaded with a stern message that the “guilty” are not going to get away with impunity, the suspension of three Haryana Civil Service (HCS) officers and 10 Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSP) seems to have set the cat among the pigeons.

The HCS Association has termed the action against HCS officers as “victimisation” even as officers seems divided on the matter, while the Police Department has written to the Superintendents of Police (SP) to initiate action against 17 Inspectors and Station House Officers found “negligent in discharging their duty”.

While 19 such police personnel have been proceeded against, the Department has sent out lists of Inspectors and SHOs whose names have figured in the Prakash Singh Committee report.

Sources in the government said all those named in the report that looked into the acts of omission and commission of officers during the Jat agitation in February will be proceeded against promptly irrespective of the seniority.

This has left the officialdom wondering on who could be in the line of fire next while pointing out that the entire blame cannot be piled up at their doorstep since the political leadership and those in the CM’s office faltered equally.

It is probably for the first time that any government has acted tough against several officials in one go without dragging its feet on a report or trying to buy time in the face of lobbying by various officer groups to “protect their people”. Indications are that the action will not stop here.

The action against HCS officers and DSPs has ruffled a few feathers, while IAS officers posted in the field when the agitation flared up due to absence of any administrative control and adversely remarked about in the report, too, are keeping their fingers crossed, some hoping that they will get away with merely a rap on the knuckles.

HCS officers, on the condition of anonymity, justified the government action against officials who “abdicated” their powers when they needed to assert themselves to maintain law and order, but “ifs and buts” still rankle them since the report has not been made public.

“Nobody has seen the report. So, we cannot say that the officials being ‘punished’ are guilty or not. The HCS Association sees the action as ‘victimisation’ and we will call for a meeting of our executive before urging the government to review its order. Also, let there be action against the higher-ups, too, since SDMs do not work in isolation and there is a chain of command,” Satbir Singh Saini, general secretary of the association said, adding juniors officers were being made “scapegoats”.