SC Choudhary, Haryana Chief Secretary

One expects politicians to be crafty and that was just what Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda of the Congress was being when he hurriedly swore in Information and Right to Service commissioners of his choice.

One expects politicians to be crafty and that was just what Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda of the Congress was being when he hurriedly swore in Information and Right to Service commissioners of his choice.

The Governor had changed in the state, and with the new person being a BJP nominee, Hooda was pre- empting any objections that the new Governer might raise over the appointments. But unlike politicians, bureaucrats are expected to go by clear rules, and that is what IAS officer Pradeep Kasni did when, as administrative reforms secretary, he refused to sign the appointment papers. He had found irregularities in the appointments and thought they were illegal.

This is where the chief secretary, SC Choudhary, made a rather unsavoury spectacle of himself. As Kasni’s boss, he should have been protecting him when he was in the right. Instead, Choudhary sent him threatening SMSes and, according to Kasni, also used abusive language. Choudhary’s subsequent defence that he was joking has only made things worse for him. He has however apologised to Kasni, who has refrained from filing a complaint, but what else could he have done after the SMSes became public knowledge?

IAS officerPradeep KasniSC Choudhary