Srinagar, Oct 15 Senior IAS officer in Jammu and Kashmir Kumar Rajeev Ranjan has courted controversy after he allegedly used abusive language against a woman JKAS officer and threatened to recommend her dismissal from service.
The heated argument, which came to light through a purported video, took place between Ranjan and Assistant Director Beenish Wani over the role of National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) during a review meeting on Mission YUVA.
The Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Services (JKAS) fraternity on Thursday condemned the alleged abuse and public humiliation of Wani and demanded an impartial inquiry into the incident.
Ranjan, a 2010-batch IAS officer posted as Administrative Secretary Labour and Employment in J&K government, repeatedly interrupted Wani, assistant director, employment and counselling centre Ganderbal, when she was briefing the meeting about the targets achieved by her office.
“Why do you need NRLM? If NRLM had to do this work, why would I give it to AD (Assistant Director)? Why would the CS (chief secretary) give it to me? He would give it to MD (Managing Director) NRLM,” he asked.
Wani, a 2015-batch JKAS officer who was attending the meeting via video conferencing, tried to explain that NRLM was used as a helping agency.
However, Ranjan allegedly repeatedly shouted at her and asked her to “shut up”. He asked the officer if she would sit silent or not.
The junior officer said she needs to explain her position but the IAS officer asked her to stop talking. He also allegedly called her “bloody shit”.
“I can always talk like that. I am your boss, stupid,” Ranjan said.
When the female officer said he cannot call her “shit”, Ranjan told another female officer present in his room to type a suspension order for Wani.
“It is fine, you can suspend,” Wani said.
As Ranjan continued his verbal tirade against the junior officer, she went on to allegedly say “to hell with you”.
The IAS officer asked his subordinate to record the words mentioned by Wani in the suspension order. “Record this and write to the GAD how she should be thrown out of the service,” he said.
Both Ranjan and Wani were not available for comment.
In a statement, the JKAS fraternity said that while it unequivocally upholds administrative accountability and performance monitoring, it maintains that no supervisory authority can justify abusive language, intimidation or such misconduct that undermines the dignity of a serving officer.
The fraternity said this is not an isolated incident, as the IAS officer is alleged to have a pattern of using “unparliamentary and demeaning language” in an official capacity.
“More disturbing is the department’s subsequent attempt to dismiss the circulating video as AI-generated and fabricated. The video is authentic, as testified by the officer herself and other officials who were present during the virtual meeting,” the statement said.
It added that the fraternity considers it deeply unfortunate that instead of allowing the matter to conclude with an apology and appropriate institutional corrective action, the Administrative Secretary has allegedly chosen to aggravate the controversy through a public clarification that “raises further questions about accountability and professional ethics”.
The fraternity called upon Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, Chief Secretary Atal Dullo, and the General Administration Department to order an impartial inquiry into both the original incident and the subsequent departmental clarification, ensure that no retaliatory action is taken against the affected officer, and establish effective safeguards against workplace intimidation and abuse of authority, the statement said.
It said the fraternity reiterates that administrative discipline must be founded on mutual respect, fairness and accountability.
The JKAS fraternity demanded that the concerned officer tender a public apology. It also sought that no further harm be caused to the aggrieved officer and that proceedings for misconduct be recommended against Ranjan for allegedly misbehaving with and verbally abusing a fellow officer, and for “misusing” his office to issue a false statement.
Estranged National Conference MP Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi criticised IAS officer Ranjan for allegedly using abusing language against the JKAS officer.
In a post on X, Mehdi’s office said, “That’s how a senior IAS officer in J&K — Administrative Secretary, Labour & Employment — dealt with a woman KAS officer who wouldn’t be shouted down in front of a room full of officers.”
“This is a grown man with a Secretary’s chair threatening a woman’s career because she asked to be allowed to finish a sentence,” the Mehdi’s office said.
“This is what abrogation of Art 370 has brought upon us. An assault on dignity at every level. Even the officers in administration behave like conquerors.@OfficeOfLGJandK @DullooAtal — if she is touched for holding her dignity, it will have consequences,” it said.
Ranjan is facing CBI probe into his role in the arms licence case while a disproportionate assets case was also registered against him and his family members last year.
Ranjan, who was earlier the deputy commissioner of Kupwara, is under the scanner in the agency’s probe into irregularities in the issuance of thousands of arms licences to non-residents in J&K.
(PTI News)
