NEW DELHI, Feb 21: Two squabbling female senior bureaucrats, causing embarrassment to the Karnataka government with their public spat against each other, have been transferred from their respective posts but without assigning any new posting.
The transfer orders for both were issued after on summoning they called on the chief secretary Vandita Sharma where they both complained against each other. The two officers, D Roopa Moudgil, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, and Rohini Sindhuri, who belongs to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre, were moved out of their departments in a shake-up announced on Tuesday afternoon.
The IPS officer Roopa Moudgil was the Karnataka State Handicrafts Development Corporation Managing Director, while the IAS officer Sindhuri was holding the post of the Commissioner of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments.
Ms. Roopa’s husband Munish Moudgil, also an IAS officer, too was affected by the transfer orders and from the post of Commissioner, Survey Settlement and Land Records, he was moved to the post of Principal Secretary, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms with immediate effect.
The State Home Minister Araga Jnanedra and multiple other ministers had expressed displeasure against their conduct, and had warned action, citing service rule violation and causing huge embarrassment to the government. The home minister had also warned the two officers against public spat and had threatened action over what he called the “bad behaviour” of the two officers.
The ugly bickering escalated on Sunday when D Roopa shared private photos of Rohini Sindhuri on Facebook. She claimed that Rohini Sindhuri had violated service conduct rules by sending her photos to male IAS officers. She alleged that Ms Sindhuri had shared photos with three officers in 2021 and 2022.
“What does it mean when these kind of pictures are sent to male senior officials? This is not a private matter. I am publishing these pictures now because I was able to access it only now. If I had received it earlier, I would have published. This is not a private matter. I will take this up further. This is a violation of the code of conduct,” D Roopa told reporters on Monday after meeting the Chief Secretary.
Rohini Sindhuri lobbed back the misconduct charge. “She is neither my boss, nor my senior, nor is she the government. She can’t keep on questioning my professional decisions on the public platform. It is not proper for an officer. It’s against the conduct rules,” she told reporters. She said she would pursue legal action.
The quarrel between Ms. Roopa and Ms. Rohini on Monday had reached the office of the Chief Secretary with both of them submitting a petition seeking action against each other, and explaining their stance.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday night said, the Chief Secretary has given direction to both officials verbally and in writing, to abide by All India Services Conduct Rules, and they have agreed to it. “I expect them to follow the rules”, he had said.
(Manas Dasgupta)
