After whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka, who was targeted by the Congress government of Haryana for cancelling a land deal between DLF and Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra, it is bureaucrat Pradip Kasni’s turn to be at the receiving end.

Kasni, secretary, administrative reforms, alleged on July 29 that he had received threat messages from chief secretary SC Choudhary for questioning “hasty and unconstitutional” appointment of new information commissioners by chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

According to administrative officials in the Haryana government, witch-hunting of “honest” bureaucrats is a norm in the Hooda regime.

Few officials, Governance Now spoke to, said Kasni is an upright and honest official, and the appointments were unconstitutional as certain members such as Rekha Rani were still holding offices of profit, and were not eligible to become information commissioners.

The officials also questioned the oath being administered at the CM residence by Hooda himself. Usually, the governor administers oath to commissioners at the Raj Bhawan.

Hooda administered the oath barely an hour after the new governor Kaptan Singh Solanki took charge.

Asked how it was working under Hooda, a Haryana government official said it was “either my way or transfer” to very low profile departments followed by ridiculous cases slapped against the rebel.

Kasni has been transferred 45 times in his 30-year career in the state. According to a Times of India report, Kasni was kept without posting for almost eight months. Also, the 1997 batch IAS officer was never given an opportunity to head any district as a deputy commissioner.

Khemka was also transferred within three days of cancelling a land dealing between the DLF and Vadra. In his 20-year-long career, Khemka was transferred 43 times, of which 18 happened during Hooda regime.

A few years ago, another young whistleblower, Indian forest service officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi was “harassed” for unveiling scams in the forest department. He was charged with stealing a Kachnar tree during his tenure at Jhajjar.