MEERUT: An assistant development officer (ADO), who is 58 years old and battling cancer, was transferred and the process to suspend him was on after he refused to repeatedly serve tea to Hapur BJP MLA Vijay Pal at a press briefing on Thursday.
The MLA told TOI on Friday: “The block development officer (BDO) insisted I have tea, and we requested the ADO to arrange the same for us. He got agitated, claiming he was fed up with repeated requests for tea. He said he wasn’t my subordinate…”
The MLA then asked district magistrate Prerna Sharma to take disciplinary action against panchayat department ADO Bishan Saxena (58), following which he was attached to the headquarters and initiated suspension proceedings. A departmental inquiry was set up against him under the supervision of Hapur CDO Himanshu Gautam.
“Just a while ago, I served tea to him. I won’t even serve tea to the president and the prime minister so many times,” Saxena purportedly said when a request for tea was made again.
CDO Gautam said, “The action follows a written complaint by the MLA. Saxena has been attached to Vikas Bhavan, and a show cause notice has been issued to him. The report will be sent to govt for further action.”
Gautam said, “Saxena retorted that being senior in age, he shouldn’t be expected to serve tea. He is battling cancer and is taking life-saving medicines… His colleagues reported that he is short-tempered, but such behaviour cannot be tolerated at the workplace.”
