The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has compulsorily retired an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer in public interest on the grounds of “lack of integrity and ineffectiveness.”
The order retiring Rinku Dugga, an IAS officer of 1994 batch belonging to the AGMUT cadre, was issued around two months ago.
A Home Ministry official said the government action was not related to the 2022 incident when it was alleged that Ms. Dugga and her husband Sanjay Khirwar, also an IAS officer, emptied the Thyagraj stadium in Delhi to walk their dog.
The Ministry had transferred the IAS couple posted then in the Delhi government for allegedly misusing the facilities at the Thyagraj stadium.
While Mr. Khirwar was transferred by the MHA to Ladakh, Ms. Dugga was sent to Arunachal Pradesh. The official said that the inquiry in this case was still ongoing.
The orders to retire Ms. Dugga were issued under the provision of Fundamental Rules (FR) 56(j)/(l), Rule 48 of Central Civil Services (CCS) Pension Rules, 1972.
The government has the absolute right to retire officials prematurely on the ground of lack of integrity and ineffectiveness, in public interest under the said provision.
Though the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) is the cadre controlling authority for IAS officers, the orders were issued by the MHA as she was from the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre, which is controlled by the Home Ministry. The government informed the Lok Sabha in August that in the past three years 122 officers have been given compulsory retirement under Rule 56(j).
