IAS officer’s ‘intriguing’ tenure at Centre under lens

Gupta is presently principal secretary (Climate Change) in the Gujarat government.

Basing his petition on a number of RTI application replies,the petitioner has stated that Gupta was relieved by the Gujarat government and placed in the service of the Centre “ostensibly” to facilitate his appointment as private secretary to Vaghela,who was Textile Minister at that time.

However,Bhamburkar has alleged that there are contradictory versions on the “intriguing” tenure of Gupta at the Centre as the Ministry of Textiles has denied that he was ever appointed in any capacity,either provisionally or otherwise,in the office of the Minister for Textiles.

At the same time,there is an RTI reply that shows that the salary of Gupta for the period was paid by the Department of Personnel & Training of the central government.

The petitioner has raised questions over Gupta’s “tenure” stating he has come across a letterhead by Gupta wherein he is presenting himself as the Private Secretary to Vaghela.

The petitioner has sought to get the issue investigated as to what were the activities of Gupta during that tenure and under what capacity.

Bhamburkar has stated that at one point,Vaghela has written to an authority that Gupta’s appointment should be “regularised” immediately and that he had been working with his ministry and had accompanied him on several official tours.

The petitioner has alleged that if Gupta was not appointed at all at the ministry then it was a clear case of impersonation. He has sought investigation in the episode while alleging that a concentrated cover up is on over the issue as several data sought from the ministry related to Gupta through RTI were shown as not maintained.

He has also demanded that Gupta and Vaghela should be kept away from the positions of power and authority during the investigation.