Casteism: Another IAS officer writes to CM

BHOPAL: Not long after a Scheduled Caste IAS officer, Ramesh Thete, had moved the SC and ST Commission alleging discrimination, it has come to light that a promotee woman IAS officer belonging to a scheduled caste had earlier come out alleging she was being discriminated against, on account of her caste and gender.
The officer, Dr Shashi Karnawat, deputy secretary (technical education) had written to chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan alleging that the state government is biased against her, only because she happens to be a “woman, and that too from the scheduled caste category.”
On January 6, Thapte, who was additional commissioner of Ujjain, had shot off a letter to the CM and chief secretary, among others, demanding promotion and a suitable posting on par with his batchmates.Thete has also moved the national SC and ST Commission.
Citing an example in her letter to Shivraj Singh Chouhan , Dr Karnawat , an officer of the 1999 batch wrote to the CM that while he had withdrawn the prosecution of Dr Sharad Pandit of Indore, she was still being prosecuted, “even after a departmental inquiry against me was completed without finding anything against me.”
Quoting a couplet from Tulsi Ramayana, she reminded the CM that he needs to ensure that all within the structure that he leads are treated the equal way, adding that the CM, however, was partial and unfair.
“On one hand you have exonerated Dr Sharad Pandit on the basis of a note sheet written by the minister for culture and public relations Laxmikant Sharma. On the other, I have been prosecuted by the Economic Offences Wing after a clearance given by the department of law and legislative affairs.”
Dr Shahsi’s case dates back to year 1999-2000 when she was an additional collector in Mandla. She told CM in her letter, “I did not have serious charges of corruption against me. The charges were related only to procedural irregularities in a printing job….. I went through a departmental inquiry and was cleared, after which I was promoted as an IAS officer and allotted the 1999 batch of the Service.”
Dr Karnawat wrote to the chief minister in August last year. Presently, she is camping in Uttaranchal as an election commission observer.
Talking to TOI she asserted, “I have been emotionally blackmailed by the chief minister, just because I am a scheduled caste woman.” She said that she has challenged her prosecution in the High Court.
In the other case, 1993 batch officer Thete had faced a Lokayukta inquiry after he was allegedly caught taking a bribe in 2001. After the Lokayukta inquiry exonerated him, Thete was reinstated and since then has been demanding a proper posting. He had even threatened to commit suicide if he did not get justice.
“There have been too many instances of scheduled caste officers facing discrimination in MP,” he maintained to TOI.