New Delhi:

The explosive allegations against an on-probation Indian Administrative Services officer are a “serious reputational hazard to the service”, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora said today. 

“The allegations against IAS officer Pooja Khedkar are a serious reputational hazard to the service. Are you in government to serve or due to a sense of entitlement? I urge Maharashtra’s Chief Secretary to conduct a comprehensive and impartial investigation into these allegations without delay,” Mr Deora wrote on X. 

The allegations against #IAS officer Pooja Khedkar are a serious reputational hazard to the service. Are you in government to serve or due to a sense of entitlement?

I urge Maharashtra’s Chief Secretary to conduct a comprehensive & impartial investigation into these allegations…

— Milind Deora | मिलिंद देवरा (@milinddeora) July 11, 2024

“Ensuring justice and preserving public trust in our administrative service is crucial. The UPSC is known for producing high-caliber officers for public service. Those lacking merit and ethics are not fit to hold important public offices,” he added.

A 2023-batch IAS officer, Ms Khedkar faces multiple charges and is under scrutiny for allegedly lying about her OBC status, and visual and mental disabilities to secure perks otherwise not meant for trainee IAS officers. She allegedly used a red beacon – reserved only for VIP government vehicles – and a “Government of Maharashtra” sticker on her private car, an Audi sedan.

Reportedly, she even used Additional Collector Ajay More’s office when he was away, removed office furniture, and even asked for personal letterheads. These facilities are not available to officers during their 24-month probation.

Her father, a retired bureaucrat, had reportedly pushed for her demands to be fulfilled.

After Pune Collector Suhas Divase complained to the Maharashtra Chief Secretary about her, Ms Khedkar was transferred to Washim.

“The 2023 batch IAS officer will serve the remaining period of her probation as Supernumerary Assistant Collector in Washim district,” an official order said.

A file photo of Shiv Sena leader Milind Deora.
| Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI

Shiv Sena’s Rajya Sabha member Milind Deora has claimed that the Congress, which once ushered in economic reforms, currently has a divisive economic agenda which seeks to derail India’s economic growth trajectory.

In an interview to PTI, Mr. Deora said the Congress was a centrist party but it “veered very, very Left” and talks about policies that have failed around the world when the party should be talking about policies which can fuel innovation and investment.

The economic reforms of 1991, the Congress’ policies of the previous 60 or 70 years, facilitated the creation of businessmen and wealth creators, he noted.

Now the Congress party is trying to “name call them, abuse them, criticise them”, the former Union Minister claimed. “It is a symptom of the fact that the Congress is moving away from its own legacy,” he said.

“The Congress had an economic agenda to take India forward. Today, I find the Congress has an economic agenda which is divisive, that seeks to derail India’s economic growth trajectory, which when India is faced with a really interesting and exciting tailwind where much of the world wants to diverse from China and invest in India,” he said.

“We should be taking advantage of that,” he said.

Mr. Deora, a Lok Sabha member from South Mumbai from 2004-2014, and served as a Union minister in the Manmohan Singh government. He quit the grand old party in January this year and joined the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

He said many people in the Congress, including former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh, will not subscribe to the party’s current economic view.

‘Congress implemented 1991 reforms’

It is the Congress which implemented the economic reforms in 1991 under the leadership of the then PM P.V. Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh, he said. “But the Congress moved away, shied away from those reforms,” the Shiv Sena MP said.

Milind Deora and his father — former Union minister late Murli Doera — share a unique distinction as both served as the Mumbai Congress president.

The Shiv Sena MP also hit out at the Congress for opposing the abrogation of Article 370 (which provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir) and said the nation’s founding fathers, who were also members of the Congress, had introduced it as a temporary provision.

Article 370 was a temporary provision in the Constitution, but the Congress “veered away” from it, he said. The Congress fought against caste politics, but today the party is advocating it, Mr. Deora said, alluding to the opposition party’s assurance of a caste census if it comes to power.