Rinku Dugga, a 54-year-old official from the 1994 AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory) cadre has been made to retire compulsorily by the Central government, as per a report by the Indian Express. She, along with her IAS husband, was in news last year for ordering a stadium to be empty so they could walk their dog.
She and her husband, Sanjeev Khirwar, also an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from the 1994 batch, were transferred out of Delhi last year after they made headlines for evacuating a stadium of athletes to take their dog for a walk.
Dugga was posted as the principal secretary in Arunachal Pradesh before the retirement order came. As per the Indian Express report, the decision has been taken based on her track record. The report added that Dugga did not make any comment when contacted.
A government official informed on 26 September, “Yes, orders have been issued compulsorily retiring Dugga based on her track record.” The person stated that she was retired in compliance with FR 56(j), Rule 48 of the Central Civil Services (CCS) Pension Rules, 1972. The government has the authority to retire any employee “if it is of the opinion that it is in the public interest to do so”.
Background of the controversy
Athletes and coaches at the Delhi government-run Thyagraj Stadium were asked by the officials to put an end to their practice early and leave the place so that the senior IAS officers could walk their dog there in May of this year. The athletes and coaches complained that they were forced to wrap up their training before 7 p.m. to let Delhi’s Principal Secretary (Revenue) Sanjeev Khirwar and his IAS wife Rinku Dugga walk their pet at the facility in the evening.
A photo of the IAS couple walking their dog in the empty stadium went viral after it was featured in a newspaper.
They charged that their training had been interfered with and conveyed how they had to train in the heat because they were ejected from the venue. The parents of a trainee athlete also called the incident “unacceptable.” As a result, several athletes moved their training to the Sports Authority of India’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium where floodlights were on after 7.30 pm.
The blatant abuse of authority created outrage among the public. Sanjeev Khirwar was transferred to Ladakh from Delhi while his wife Rinku Dugga was posted to Arunachal Pradesh from the national capital by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The occurrence had brought attention to the impropriety and arrogance of the IAS couple and the action was reportedly initiated because of their abuse of authority and position in Delhi.
Unfounded arguments against the action
Maneka Gandhi, Bharatiya Janata Party Lok Sabha MP and animal rights activist came to the defence of the pair and claimed, “I know Sanjeev Khirwar very well. The allegations against him are false. One can’t transfer just anyone anywhere. Delhi will suffer a loss due to the order and the Centre’s move is a conspiracy.”
She alleged, “When Khirwar was secretary of the environment department, Delhi benefited from his work. The action against him is completely wrong.”
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra insinuated that Rinku Dugga’s transfer to Arunachal Pradesh was a form of punishment and asked why she wasn’t sent to another state. She also implied that it was a “punishment posting” and that the MHA was humiliating the region and disproving assertions of development in the northeastern part of the country.
However, in reality, the IAS duo were sent to Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, respectively, because they were AGMUT cadre members and were only permitted to be deployed in specific states and union territories under the AGMUT cadre. They were assigned to work together in Delhi as part of the central government’s spouse posting order which was discontinued and they transferred to the locations as per state cadre rules.
In accordance with a 2016 decision, the Ministry of Home Affairs asserted that certain cadre officers desire to remain in Delhi or serve in ‘soft’ districts. The Ministry’s directive was to make sure that no cadre unit lacked cadre officials and that the responsibility of serving outside of Delhi, in both the ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ regions were distributed equally among the officers.
