IAS officer at centre of dog walking row transferred to Ladakh

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IAS officer Sanjeev Khirwar, who has been accused of vacating a stadium to walk his dog, has been transferred to Ladakh. His wife Rinku Dhugga, an IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre, was spotted walking with her husband in the stadium; she has been transferred to Arunachal Pradesh.

The Thyagraj Stadium in Delhi was reportedly closed for sports activities before its usual time so that Khirwar, Delhi’s Principal Secretary (Revenue), could take his dog for a walk there.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has sought a report from Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar on the matter, News18 reported.

Athletes and coaches at the Delhi government-run Thyagraj Stadium had complained that they were being forced to wrap training before 7 pm over the past few months, so that the IAS officer could walk his dog at the facility. Khirwar has, however, denied that he ever disrupted practice at the stadium.

The tainted officer is a 1994-batch Indian Administrative Officer of AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, and Union Territories) cadre. Apart from Delhi and Chandigarh, he has been posted in Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Khirwar, 50, is one of the senior-most bureaucrats posted in the Delhi government. All district magistrates (11) and sub-divisional magistrates (SDMs) posted in Delhi report to him as divisional commissioner. During the pandemic, he was posted as Delhi’s divisional commissioner, a senior position in the capital’s bureaucracy after chief secretary and additional chief secretary.