Ashok Khemka: The 1991-batch officer will retire as Additional Chief Secretary, Transport Department. He was transferred and posted to his current job in December 2024.
Born in Kolkata on April 30, 1965, he earned a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Kharagpur in 1988, followed by a PhD in Computer Science from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and an MBA specialising in Business Administration and Finance.
With 57 transfers during his career, probably the highest among the state’s bureaucracy, Mr Khemka last December returned to the transport department, which is currently being handled by Minister Anil Vij. The move came nearly 10 years after he was transferred out as transport commissioner, in the first term of the then-BJP government headed by Manohar Lal Khattar.
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.
About
Description
Ashok Khemka is an IAS civil servant from the 1991 batch. As of March 2025, he had been transferred 66 times during his career, making him the second-most transferred bureaucrat in Haryana, surpassed only by retired IAS officer Pradeep Kasni.
Born: 30 April 1965 (age 60 years), Kolkata
Education: Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (1988) ·
Spouse: Jyoti Khemka
Children: Srinath Khemka, Ganesh Khemka
Known for: IAS officer who cancelled the mutation of the Robert Vadra–DLF land deal
Khemka highlighted alleged land deal corruption in and around Gurgaon, India for conversion of commercial land, reportedly between ₹20,000 crore (US$2 billion) to ₹350,000 crore (US$41 billion). Khemka was most recently Haryana’s Director-General of Land Consolidation and Land Records-cum-Inspector-General of Registration. During his 80-day stint in the department, Khemka detected irregularities in land transactions involving the transfer of panchayat land worth several hundred crores of rupees to newly created real estate companies. Khemka was transferred on 11 October 2012 and took action on the matter after his transfer. He claims to have been harassed and transferred 40 times in the last 21 years for doing his job.As the managing director of Haryana Seeds Development Corporation Limited, Khemka exposed its irregularities, following which he was transferred on 4 April 2013 and was replaced by B. S. Duggal, a Deputy Secretary five ranks below him.
Following his expression of apprehensions regarding the appropriation of land by Robert Vadra, (Priyanka Gandhi’s spouse), Khemka claimed that he had been subjected to threats on his life. A concern was raised regarding land transactions involving Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
In November 2023, the Haryana Government designated TVSN Prasad, the Financial Commissioner of Revenue, to address a series of grievances lodged by Ashok Khemka concerning the conduct of another official, Sajeev Verma.
In March 2024, the Supreme Court annulled the High Court’s decision regarding the elevated ACR grade awarded to Officer Ashok Khemka.
