Uttar Pradesh government sacks Hathras ADM over facebook post against Yogi Adityanath

LUCKNOW: The state government has sacked Hathras additional district magistrate Ashok Kumar Shukla, a PCS officer, for putting up a post on social media against chief minister Yogi Adityanath in 2018 and for having illegally allocated government land to a resident of Hardoi when he was posted as SDM there in 2016.
Action was also taken against another PCS officer, Ashok Kumar Lal, who was sacked after two charges of corruption against him were found true.Four more allegations against him are under investigation. Until now, Lal was under suspension.
In the case of Shukla, the first charge included putting up a social media post which “created a negative image of the government district administration”.
Officer faces two charges
On February 5, 2018, when Shukla was SDM Amethi, he reportedly wrote on his Facebook wall: “In the name of a meeting yesterday, I sat from 2 pm to 12.40 am. Most of your officers are falling sick Yogi ji.”
The government said that Shukla’s meeting was not scheduled from 2pm, as claimed, but from 4pm. The time the meeting ended was also incorrectly stated by him, the report against the officer says. Shukla’s defence that his personal phone was at home and that the post was made by his minor daughter did not hold weight with the government which said that to access Facebook a password is needed which is only with the specific user.
The other charge against Shukla was that as SDM Hardoi, he had allocated government land illegally to a resident, Hamidullah, in 2016. After a complaint against him, the then DM Hardoi carried out an inquiry in which it was found that Shukla could not justify how government land was transferred in someone’s name. He also did not mention what documentary proof he had used to allow this transfer or justify the provisions under which Hamidullah was declared as land owner.
Citing that both actions were in violation of the Conduct Rules, 1956, government has dismissed Shukla from service.