Today Times of India published a report which tried to insinuate that an IAS officer in Rajasthan was transferred because she had fined the driver of a vehicle carrying a Congress MLA for driving without driving licence. The report titled ‘IAS officer fines MLA’s driver, transferred’ said that the Congress government in Rajasthan has transferred IAS officer Tejasvi Rana after she had fined the driver of the vehicle carrying Begun Congress MLA Rajendra Bhiduri on April 14.
The report said that IAS officer Tejasvi Rana, who was posted as SDM Chittorgarh earlier, was transferred to the post of joint director at state health assurance authority in Jaipur a day after she had stopped the car carrying Congress MLA Rajendra Bhiduri, and it has raised eyebrows.
But the Times of India misses one important detail, that Tejasvi Rana was already facing ire of traders and local leaders in Chittorgarh over an incident two days ago, and that is probably the real reason of the transfer. On Tuesday, SDM Rana had gone to the vegetable market, where she had misbehaved with vendors, and even had vandalised some shops, all of which were caught in CCTV cameras. In the market, Rana had slammed the people there for not maintaining social distance as mandated to prevent the spread of Coronavirus. When the vendors showed her the passes issued by her in response, she got angry and tore them away. After that, she had proceeded to tear the registers of the shops, and threw away chairs and tables.
One employee of a shop named Manohar Lal had even alleged that Rana had snatched cash from his notes and torn them. Passes issued to NGOs and individuals engaged in distributing essential materials to the poor were also torn by the SDM, some of which were issued by Rana herself.
After the incident, the traders had lodged a complaint against the officer with the DC, and the DC prepared a report on the incident based on all the evidence and sent it to the state government. According to reports, the chief secretary decided to transfer Tejasvi Rana based on the report.
It is interesting to note that Times of India’s sister publication Navabharat Times had reported on the incident on 14th April, including the CCTV footage. The video clearly shows her throwing away registers and vandalising furniture.
Moreover, the Times of India report itself quotes Bhiduri saying that he had no role in the transfer of the officer. Speaking to the media, Bhiduri had claimed that the officer, DSP stopped his vehicle and asked the driver to produce the driving licence when he was on his way to his constituency in the vehicle of a party worker. He said his driver did not have the licence at that time. The MLA claimed that he paid the fine and the officers were very polite.
Bhiduri further added that he does not know the reason for the officer’s transfer. He added, “I have not made any complaint to anyone. They were doing their duty. I have appreciated the officers who had been in the field and fighting COVID-19 from the front.”
Therefore, although the transfer of the officer has been linked to the incident of fining the driver of a Congress MLA, the incident in the market three days ago is another reason for that, and most probably the main reason, because there were a formal complaint and an official report against her on that incident.
