TRIFED chairman suspends MD, Ministry declares order ‘null and void’

Gitanjali Gupta did not respond to queries sent by The Sunday Express.

On Saturday, PTI reported that the Ministry of Tribal Affairs said in an order that Gupta “was appointed to the post of Managing Director, TRIFED, by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet… The office memorandum issued by you (Rathwa) on October 19, 2023, whereby the suspension order of Gitanjali Gupta has been issued, is considered null and void”.

Minister of Tribal Affairs</strong&gt; Arjun Munda told The Sunday Express, “The MD of TRIFED is appointed by ACC, therefore after her suspension by the Chairman, I told him about the rules and informed everything to DoPT.” The Secretary of the ministry, Anil Jha, did not revert to the query sent by The Sunday Express.

The immediate provocation for Gupta’s suspension, according to sources, was an order issued on October 18 (Wednesday), denying extension to an official and another order appointing an official in the Chairman’s office against his wishes. Gupta’s suspension order stated that Rathwa cancelled the order dated October 18 as it was issued “without his knowledge”.

“I (Rathwa) have decided that I will propose action in the next meeting of Board on October 27 against the officials indulged in the administrative mismanagement… Let the Board takes action,” stated the suspension order.

According to sources, an administrative war has been going on between political appointee Rathwa and bureaucrat Gupta since March this year when a letter was issued from the MD’s office identifying two RSS-affiliated organisations — Akhil Bhartiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and Sahakar Bharati — as “political bodies”. Rathwa had written on March 23 to TRIFED’s officials, including Gupta, asking them to be present for a meeting with the two RSS affiliates in connection with the Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Vikas Mission.

On March 24, Amit Bhatnagar, General Manager, TRIFED, wrote to Rathwa that his letter was against service rules “which, inter alia, provide that every government servant shall, at all times, maintain political neutrality”.

On the day of the meeting on March 28, officials of both Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and Sahakar Bharati were present and they registered their protest at the description of their organisations as “political bodies” in the letter. Only Chairman Rathwa, who is a former BJP MP, was present from TRIFED.

Sources said a lot has happened between the two sides since then. On June 30, the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram sent a legal notice to Gupta, saying it had been “wrongly presumed” to be a political organisation. They wrote to the Tribal Affairs Minister as well.

On July 22, Bhatnagar wrote to Rathwa saying the letter sent by him on March 24 “seems to have caused miscommunication and should be withdrawn with immediate effect”. “The aforesaid letter stands withdrawn,” he wrote.

Rathwa has been a Rajya Sabha MP twice and a Lok Sabha MP thrice before being appointed the TRIFED Chairman in October 2021. Gupta is a 1996-batch IAS officer of AGMUT cadre, and was appointed the MD of TRIFED in August last year.