Jat stir: Haryana puts 11 officers on notice

Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 23

Two months after the Prakash Singh committee report on the lawlessness that followed the Jat agitation in February this year, the Khattar-led BJP government in Haryana has issued notices to 11 officers, asking them to reply to the castigating remarks made against them in the report.

Sources said five IAS officers, the then Deputy Commissioners at Rohtak, Hisar, Jhajjar, Kaithal and Sonepat, and six HCS officers, the then SDMs at Kalayat, Bhiwani, Jhajjar, Gohana and Hansi and Bhiwani City Magistrate, have been asked to respond to the charges within 15 days.

The government had effected transfers immediately after the Prakash Singh committee report was made public in May, but has shied away from taking action. The “indicted” officers had claimed that the findings, based on statements and affidavits, had not been referred back to them for comment and that the panel had arrived at its own conclusions. Hence, the government, giving the officers a chance to put across their side of the story, has issued them notices. Sources said the government expected replies in detail.

The Home Department has already served notices on the DSPs. Those to the IAS and HCS officers for “dereliction of duty” were on the cards as the remarks against them in the Prakash Singh panel report were too severe to be overlooked.

While the report describes the response of the then Sonepat DC “unsatisfactory,” it says the then Rohtak DC's control over the district was “very poor." It describes the then Jhajjar DC as the “most-non-performing”. It accused the then Kaithal DC of “not moving out” of the headquarters and the then Hisar DC of being “casteist”.