Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow on Thursday. (Express Photo: Vishal Srivastav)
TWO DAYS after Rajeev Rautela was shifted from the post of Gorakhpur district magistrate and made the divisional commissioner of Devipatan in Uttar Pradesh, the Centre on Monday decided to shift the bureaucrat to Uttarakhand.
Rautela, who had courted controversy last week for allegedly barring mediapersons from accessing the counting centre while the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha bypoll was in progress, was promoted as divisional commissioner on Saturday.
Following the reorganisation of Uttar Pradesh, Rautela’s cadre was determined as the new state of Uttarakhand — a decision he had challenged and got stayed by the HC. The stay was lifted in August, 2016.
However, the Centre did not issue a formal order regarding the final allocation of Rautela’s cadre until now. The order was issued on March 16, two days after the bypoll results but was communicated on Monday to the two chief secretaries of the concerned states.
Rautela, a Provincial Civil Service (PCS) officer of the 1982-batch, was promoted to the Indian Administrative Services in 2002. He was made the Gorakhpur DM soon after Adityanath took over as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in March last year.
“The central government drawing powers conferred under Section 73(2) of the UP Reorganisation Act-2000 hereby allocates Shri Rajeev Rautela, who was working in connection with the affairs of government of Uttar Pradesh in the cadre of Provincial Civil Services (Executive Branch) immediately before 09.11.2000 and was recommended for allocation to Uttarakhand by the State Advisory Committee [S.No.12 Part (V)] in its meeting dated 04.12.2002, to Uttarakhand with effect from 09.11.2000,” the Union Personnel Ministry order stated.
The Opposition in UP had alleged that Rautela transfer to Devipatan was a mere eyewash. Alleging that Rautela was promoted despite allegations against him, SP MLC Udaiveer Singh, considered close to party president Akhilesh Yadav, said: “He is the blue-eyed boy of the chief minister and has thus, been promoted to the neighbouring division as the commissioner. The area (Devipatan) also has another mutth of Gorakhnath. These transfers are a mere eyewash, as making changes in the party after the loss was not that easy. so, changes have first been made in the bureaucracy.”