The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that retired IAS officer Ashok Khemka must be treated as an empanelled additional secretary for future administrative assignments, finding that the government discriminated against him by denying him eligibility relaxations granted to his peers.
The decision by a division bench comprising Justices Harsimran Singh Sethi and Deepak Manchanda establishes that Khemka is entitled to equal treatment alongside other officers who received exemptions from standard central deputation requirements.
Challenging The Administrative Tribunal Decisions
The ruling comes in response to a petition filed by Khemka, a 1991-batch officer of the Haryana cadre. He had challenged three separate orders issued by the Central Administrative Tribunal in July 2023, which had dismissed his request to be recognized as an empanelled additional secretary or secretary prior to his retirement.
The central government had previously withheld his empanelment on the grounds that he did not complete the mandatory three years of central deputation at the rank of deputy secretary or above. However, Khemka argued that multiple other civil servants with no prior central deputation experience at those ranks had been empanelled after being granted official relaxations.
Constitutional Violations And Court Findings
In its May 29 verdict, the High Court observed that while the central government possesses the authority to relax the three-year deputation rule, failing to apply this discretion consistently constitutes unlawful discrimination. The bench noted that the government failed to present any distinguishing factors that justified denying Khemka the same relaxation granted to other similarly situated officers.
The court concluded that this unequal application of rules violated the constitutional guarantees of equality under Articles 14 and 16. It ruled that Khemka must be granted parity to prevent any unfair prejudice against him.
Future Prospects And Career History
Because Khemka retired from service on April 30, 2025, the bench noted that he cannot receive active deputation benefits. Instead, the court directed that he be treated on an equal footing with empanelled officers for any future post-retirement assignments where such status is a preferred qualification.
Khemka concluded a 34-year civil service career during which he was transferred 57 times. He rose to national prominence in 2012 after canceling the land ownership transfer mutation in Gurugram involving Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi.
