Senior IAS Officer’s Voluntary Exit Triggers Political Row in Telangana

The voluntary retirement of senior IAS officer Syed Ali Murtaza Rizvi has sparked a political spat in Telangana, with the BRS accusing the government of "harassing" bureaucrats to commit corruption.

A 1999 batch officer with around ten years of service remaining, Rizvi chose to retire voluntarily on October 31 and the state administration approved of his decision.  It's unknown what caused his VRS.

Union Minister Bandi Sanjay Kumar responded to Rizvi's VRS by saying that the IAS officer's retirement reveals how Telangana's bureaucracy is being destroyed by blame games and crooked politics. 

Telangana should know why an honest and capable officer had to take this action, he said.

"If ministers can’t make an officer bend to their pressure, do they choose to sacrifice him instead? Is this how the Congress government plans to run administration - by harassing officers who refuse to serve their personal interests?," the minister asked in a post on 'X'.

He claimed that ministers tamper with tenders, distort the rules, and then accuse the officers who resisted making concessions.

Kumar added that the BRS followed suit while it was in office.  Officers were humiliated by KCR (BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao) when he forced them to participate in the Kaleshwaram investigation into his poor project choices.  In the Formula E case, his son saved himself by blaming bureaucrats for his mistakes.

"Now Congress has picked up where BRS left off - targeting officers while defending their favourites. This is not governance. It’s harassment in the name of administration and open protection of corruption," he added.

Addressing a press conference, BRS Working President KT Rama Rao alleged that IAS and IPS officers are opting for voluntary retirement (VRS) because they are being pressured to commit wrongful acts.

"Rizvi refused to carry out orders by Excise Minister Jupally Krishna Rao. The minister also wrote a letter to the government not to accept his resignation," Rao alleged.

Rijvi, who is Principal Secretary, Revenue (Prohibition & Excise) at the moment, was not available for remark.

Rizvi was allegedly purposefully delaying a tendering procedure for high security holograms to be applied on spirits bottles, according to a letter allegedly addressed by Krishna Rao to the Chief Secretary.

Regarding the accusations made by the opposition parties, the government side did not immediately respond.

With PTI inputs.