GUILTY SHOULD NOT SPARED...

                                                                                                            Ref: CESA/10/2016

Date: 15-Mar-2016.

Shri Piyusha Patnaik,

Chief Commissioner,
Service Tax Zone, Mumbai.

Respected Sir,

                        Sub : Request for action against Shri R. P. Khandelwal, for causing

mental tension & harassment, leading to the sad & sudden

demise of Shri R. S. Phadke, Superintedent, ST-III – Reg.

This is to bring to your kind notice, that on the fateful day i.e. on 18-Feb-2016, when Shri Phadke, Supdt. passed away, you were out of station and on being informed about the same, you were considerate enough to have sent your officers to the residence of the bereaved family, the very next day. On your joining, you have personally visited the residence of the bereaved family. The anger in the office is palpable. 

The officers of ST-III had met you in person, during the 1^st week of Dec-2015, and complained about the bad attitude & mis-behavior of Shri Khandelwal towards the subordinate officers. Thereafter, on 17-Feb-2016, the undersigned had personally met Shri Khandelwal and informed him about the unacceptability of his obnoxious behavior, manner of shouting, using a threatening tone towards his subordinates and about his use of foul language. He was apologetic at that point of time, however, the damage was already done & the next day morning the unfortunate incident happened. This increased the anger among the officers against Shri Khandelwal’s attitude. The submissions in person dt. 03-Mar-2016 is annexed.

            To pay homage as well to lodge an unusual protest, a Blood donation camp was organized on 03-Mar-2016 and on the same day, the Hon’ble CC, ST Zone, Mumbai, was requested to hold an enquiry to ascertain the cause of the death of Shri Phadke as well as several other officers’ health condition due to constant harassment by Shri Khandelwal and to transfer Shri Khandelwal from an executive post to non-executive post till the completion of the enquiry. When any person in an organization does not follow the norms of decency and decorum, it will be prudent not to post that person in a key post. It may also be noted that the organization is always bigger than the individual and his nature of being indispensable needs to be curbed, so that such type of behavior does not spread within the organization like a virus.

            A Central Excise employee of Hyderabad expired on 08-Mar-2016, due to heart attack because of constant harassment by a mischievous AC. The same was represented by the CE Association, Hyderabad and thereafter a police complaint was also lodged by the family member. The said AC was immediately transferred out of the Division (Copy enclosed).

            Shri Phadke was a simple officer and did not possess ill-gotten wealth like Shri Kahndelwal. Even the expenses towards the hospitalization and last rites were borne by his close childhood friends. Human lives cannot be treated as a sporting item and one cannot play with it. A loss of life has a cascading effect on the family – even they cannot fathom the depth of the loss… For the sake of amity and the cause of humanity, it is better that a person who caused it to be removed / transferred.

            Sir, the working atmosphere has already been vitiated and the entire staff including Asstt. Commissioners, has unanimously requested for a transfer out of ST-III Commissionerate when they personally met you on 23-Feb-2016 and again on 03-Mar-2016. It is once again requested that Shri Khandelwal be shifted out of ST-III Commissionerate and to institute an enquiry about his obnoxious behavior under the CCS Rules. Delay in taking action against him is further emboldening him !!

Further, it may be ensured that he is not allowed to write any Confidential Reports of any officers working under him, either as Reporting Officer or as Reviewing Officer. Justice is awaited from you. We cannot be silent spectators and if action is not taken, then the matter will be further taken up with the highest authorities including PMO, Human Rights Commission, etc.

Thanking you,

                                                                       Yours sincerely,
Encl :
a) Submission in person dated 03-Mar-2016.
b) Blood Donation camp held on 03-Mar-2016.
c) Copy of Transfer order dated 09-Mar-2016 of AC, C.Ex., Hyderabad.

            A.K. SASMAL

General Secretary

 Copy to :

1)  Shri K K Sharma, Member (ST), CBEC, New Delhi – For kind information please.

2)  Shri B K Bansal, Zonal Member, CBEC, New Delhi – For kind information please.
3)  Shri S C Varshney, CCA & Chief Commr., MZ-I - For kind information please.
4) Commissioner, ST – I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, ST-Audit-I, II, III – For kind information.
5)  Shri Ravi Mallick, Secretary General, AIACEGO, New Delhi.

 

Submission in person by the delegation on 03-Mar-2016.

To pay our respectful homage, as well as a mark of protest, a blood donation camp was held at Lotus Building where late Shri Phadke was posted.

The response was overwhelming and the anger among the officers was clearly visible.

Shri Piyusha Patnaik, Chief Commissioner, Mumbai Service Tax Zone & Shri M. R. R. Reddy, Commissioner, Service Tax-IV, Mumbai, came and acknowledged the cause.

Thereafter, the delegation of CESA Mumbai and IRS (IDT) Promotee officers met Shri Piyush Patnaik, Commissioner, Service Tax-III who is also holding the charge of Chief Commissioner, Service Tax Mumbai Zone.

It was conveyed to the Hon'ble CC that the behavior, attitude and conduct of Shri Khandelwal, Additional Commissioner, Service Tax-III was just like a dictator and he treats his subordinates including Assistant / Deputy Commissioners like slaves. He is not honest and his greed has no limits and this emboldens him to treat and behave with subordinate staff the way he desires. In CC's absence, as he is holding both the charges and is not able to concentrate on the affairs of Service Tax III Commissionerate, Shri Khandelwal's behaviour is just like as if he is the Commissioner of Service Tax-III. As he has managed his earlier postings in Mumbai Customs, JNPT, Kandla & Mumbai airport, he thinks of himself as if he is the son of Kubera. Shri Kandelwal humiliates and misbehaves with the newly promoted ACs before the subordinate officers, citing incompetence, is a daily routine. He himself sends bundles of files relating to TDS matter to another officer posted outside the Commissionerate, seeking his advice…..He is not bound by the tone, tenor and accent of decent language, crosses all limits and does not acknowledge the presence of lady officers around while using foul language.

Death is inevitable, but the way Shri Phadke had to end his life was not deserved by an uniformed officer with a long and unblemished service record. The mental pressure was so much, and the thought of facing an abusive officer like Shri Kandelwal again when he reaches office was too much to bear. This was narrated to his close friend a day before his death. It was his goodness that before he left the world, that he did not name any one in his last note. But everyone in the office as well as his family knew what and who made him to take such an unfortunate and drastic step. Mr. Khandelwal has now became infamous & is now a household name in all the officers’ families as being a monster and his terror tactics make most of the officers sick, both physically and mentally.

In ancient times, after seeing the dead bodies scattered around the battlefield, the Great Ashoka became Chanda–Ashoka to Dharma-Ashoka but Shri Khandelwal has or shows no remorse, no regret in losing one of the officers under him.

As your goodself is gentle, simple and honest person in nature, and unable to give your full attention to the affairs of Service Tax-III, Shri Khandelwal is taking advantage and misusing/abusing his position and the trust reposed in him by you.

After the incident, as the entire staff of the Service Tax Commissionerate do not want any other person to become a victim of his unprofessional behaviour, it is unanimously felt that Shri Khandelwal should be immediately transferred out and an enquiry be initiated into the untimely death of Shri Phadke, and to ascertain the facts leading to his unfortunate death. His behavior and approach is notorious and is known to all his past superiors. Even Shri Sushil Solanki, M. R. R. Reddy & Prashsant Kumar, our earlier Commissioners, knew this and had transferred him out from their charge.

His continuation in the Service Tax will dent the image of the Commissionerate as well as your personal reputation which has been nurtured and built over the decades and will adversely affect the morale of all the Departmental officers.

Lastly it was appealed to the Hon'ble CC to take exemplary action against Shri Khandelwal and to hold an enquiry before 18.03.2016 (completion of one month after Shri Phadke's death).

 

Copy of Transfer Order issued by Hyderabad Commissionerate

 

 

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