New Delhi: Railway Board Secretary Ranjanesh Sahai has been transferred, within a month of seeking action against Union Minister Jitendra Singh’s OSD for casting “aspersions” on the railway minister and questioning the wisdom of senior officials in an article, officials said Wednesday.
Sahai’s transfer Tuesday, pending further posting orders, has been approved by President Ram Nath Kovind, the officials said.
An order on the Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS) official’s next posting will be issued soon, they said.
Sushant Kumar Mishra, a 1985 batch officer of the Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS), has taken over as the new Railway Board secretary, they said.
The move comes within a month of Sahai writing to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) seeking the immediate repatriation of Sanjiv Kumar, a 2005 batch officer of the Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS) for “breach of official decorum and misconduct”.
Kumar is Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Jitendra Singh, who holds multiple portfolios, including minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office and for Development of North Eastern Region.
“A case of breach of official decorum and misconduct of Sanjiv Kumar, IRPS, has been brought to the notice of railway board. Sanjiv Kumar has authored an article, published by www.railsamachar.com and www.nationalwheels.com,” Sahai wrote in his letter to the DoPT.
Sahai was named Railway Board secretary, considered as one of the most prestigious posts in the Railway Ministry, in December 2017.
The article, besides being in bad taste, questions the wisdom of senior functionaries of the level of secretary to the government of India and also casts aspersions on the Minister of Railways (Piyush Goyal), he said in his letter.
“…it is proposed to take up the officer under the Railway Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1968. You would appreciate that a misconduct of this nature and that too in the public domain would send a wrong message all around and encourage indiscipline in the service,” the letter dated December 28, 2018, said.
Sahai asked DoPT Secretary C Chandramouli “to consider immediate repatriation of Sanjiv Kumar, IRPS, to this ministry for taking action as deemed appropriate”. It added that the issue had the approval of the Railway Board chairman.
VK Yadav recently replaced Ashwani Lohani as the new Railway Board chairperson.