Politician-bureaucrat nexus comes to the fore in UP as CM Yogi Adityanath goes for the kill

Last month, Lucknow was rocked. The Uttar Pradesh government, under Chief Minister (CM) Yogi Adityanath, did the unthinkable. Adityanath suspended his blue-eyed boy, Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Abhishek Prakash, for allegedly demanding a commission from a businessman.

Prakash was no run-of-the-mill bureaucrat. As CEO of Invest UP, “an investment promotion and facilitation agency powered by the state government”, it was his organisation’s brief to transform the state “into the most preferred investment destination in India and therefore, enabling new growth trajectories for shaping the vision of New India.”

Instead, Prakash is now facing a rigorous vigilance probe instituted by the state government.

In his 18 years in Uttar Pradesh, this former IIT Roorkee engineer, had been the District Magistrate (DM) of Aligarh, Hamirpur, Lakhimpur Kheri, and Lucknow. Under Yogi he was the man to watch. Realizing his potential, the CM made him the CEO of Invest UP.

So, what went wrong? Insiders say that Prakash’s undoing was when he asked for a 5 per cent commission through a middleman for a solar power project that had been approved by the state government’s evaluation committee. Incensed, the investor Biswajit Dutta of SAEL Solar P6 Limited directly complained to the CM.

The preliminary vigilance probe indicates that the officer who owns hundreds of acres of land, also has assets worth several hundred crores.

“The move has been widely seen as a reaffirmation of Adityanath’s commitment to rooting out corruption, a cornerstone of his governance agenda,” says The420.in, a digital platform that comprises a group of journalists, researchers, and other professionals. They describe themselves as a “team of digital enthusiasts who love to track and decode the underground world of digital crimes.”

Bureaucrats under Yogi's scanner in UP

Prakash is just one name. The feisty Yogi Adityanath has put several senior bureaucrats under his scanner. This latest action brings the total number of IAS officers suspended for graft-related charges during Adityanath’s two terms to 12, ``underscoring the state’s zero-tolerance policy toward malfeasance,’’ a state government official said.

Since taking office eight years ago, the UP CM has overseen the suspension of 11 other IAS officers across his first and second terms. While several of these officers have been reinstated following investigations, the government claims that its swift actions have sent a clear message: no one is above the law.

List of suspended IAS officers

The list of IAS officers suspended under Adityanath’s administration spans a range of allegations, from financial irregularities to abuse of power. They include:

-Ghanashyam Singh, a 2014-batch officer, who was suspended on November 13, 2024, for delaying land measurement processes in Lakhimpur Kheri, a case that drew significant local ire.

-Devi Sharan Upadhyay, a 2012-batch officer, faced a similar penalty in July 2024 for arbitrarily reinstating leases for 35 plots in Aligarh while serving as a judicial member of the Revenue Board.

⁠-TK Shibu, was suspended in March, 2022, while serving as the DM of Sonbhadra.

-Sunil Kumar Verma, who faced action for alleged corruption and misuse of authority as the DM of Auraiya.

-Devendra Kumar Pandey, a 2011-batch officer, was suspended during his tenure as Unnao’s DM for financial irregularities in procurement in the Basic Education Department.

-Amar Nath Upadhyay, also from the 2011 batch, was suspended as Maharajganj’s DM for alleged mismanagement of funds allocated to cow protection centres.

-Kumar Prashant, a 2010-batch officer faced similar penalties in June 2018, as Fatehpur’s DM for irregularities in government wheat procurement

-Jitendra Bahadur Singh was suspended in June 2018 as Gonda’s DM for similar charges related to government grain mismanagement.

⁠-Kedar Nath Singh suffered the same fate while serving in the Tourism Department.

⁠-Sharda Singh faced action as Consolidation Commissioner for allegedly failing to adhere to OBC recruitment quotas.

Adityanath’s ‘zero-tolerance’ policy has Lucknow sharply polarised. Supporters argue that it has instilled a sense of accountability among bureaucrats, fostering a cleaner administration.

Critics, however, caution that the rapid pace of suspensions could stifle initiative among officers. As the state navigates this hard-to-achieve equilibrium, the focus remains on ensuring that investigations are fair, transparent, and free from political influence, a no mean feat.

Yogi's clean image

According to analyst and journalist Anshuman Shukla, while CM Yogi enjoys a clean image, the same cannot be said about some of the other bigwigs in the party and government. 

"How is it that Abhishek Prakash was appointed CEO of Invest UP when an 83-page report by the state government’s Board of Revenue, had in August 2024 indicted him (as Lucknow DM) for directly receiving kickbacks from illegal land deals in the Lucknow defence corridor”?

That, indeed, is a question many are asking. In UP’s murky politician-bureaucrat nexus, such deals are commonplace. Abhishek Prakash’s case is one that could well be the tip of the iceberg.