Tenure of senior railway officer who sought free IPL passes curtailed

New Delhi: The central deputation tenure of senior bureaucrat Gopal Krishan Gupta, who had sought complimentary passes for IPL matches from Delhi cricket association, has been curtailed and he has been sent back to his cadre — railway ministry.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved premature repatriation of Gupta with immediate effect, an order issued by the personnel ministry said without mentioning any reason.

Gupta, a 1987 batch officer of the Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers (IRSME), is posted as the Joint Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

He had in March sought complimentary passes of an IPL match from Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) president Rajat Sharma’s office, according to an official communique.

After not getting the desired response from the DDCA, Gupta wrote a letter to Sharma on April 3, giving the sequence of events.

Gupta mentioned telephonic discussion between Sharma’s executive assistant Sapna Soni and his personal staff.

“I do not know whether this episode and the sequence of events as narrated above has been brought to your notice and whether your executive assistant had informed you about my call and my request for the arrangement of passes,” Gupta said in a letter to Sharma.

“May I request that your office staff may show courtesy in such matters and give timely feedback even if the response is not affirmative. I think we must have mutual respect for the positions being held by us,” his letter reads.

It is learnt that the ACC’s decision on curtailing Gupta’s tenure is taken after the copy of this letter was shared on a public platform.