New Delhi, August 31
Arvind Kejriwal, who is part of the troika advising Jan Lokpal Bill campaigner Anna Hazare, is technically still a government servant if the sources in the Union Finance Ministry are to be believed.

The 1992 batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer had resigned in February 2006, six months before he got his Ramon Magsaysay award in August 2006 for his work in bringing the Right to Information Act. But the government is yet to accept his resignation because he is yet to clear his “dues” to it, claim official sources.

Apparently, Kejriwal had taken a two-year sabbatical in 2000 to study abroad and availed himself of “study leave” — a facility that the government grants to its employees with full pay. He extended his two years of paid leave from the Income Tax Department by another two years, this time without pay. The employee, however, has to sign a bond that on return from the study leave he or she would render at least three years of service to the government or refund the pay and allowances.

Although Kejriwal is said to have made such a commitment, he did not keep it when he decided to resign from the job before completing the three-year period. When he was asked to repay the amount of about Rs 3 lakh, the officer sought a waiver of the amount taking a plea that he did not have the money to pay to the government.

The Department of Personnel, the nodal ministry that handles all training-related issues, demurred. The stand-off continues and the interest of the outstanding amount has accumulated, putting the dues at several lakhs now. The Tribune made several efforts to contact Kejriwal for his version but failed in its attempts to do so.

The consequence of this is that Kejriwal continues to be a “government servant” and the Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, whom he negotiated with as part of Team Anna, is technically still his “boss”. An officer of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said, “It was certainly amusing seeing Kejriwal talking tough with government negotiators.”

Ironically, if Kejriwal ever gets tired with his activism, he can even rejoin the revenue service. He will even be eligible for pension when he resigns once again, if he so chooses. That is because the Seventh Pay Commission has granted pension even in cases of employment of less than 20 years. “If Kejriwal continues to refuse to pay his dues that he owes to the treasury, the North Block -- in the current scenario -- will have no option but to take disciplinary action against him,” the CBDT official said.

The Hisar-born Kejriwal set up the Public Cause Research Foundation (PCRF) soon after he resigned. He donated the prize money of his Magsaysay award as corpus fund for the PCRF, which works to collect, research, analyse and disseminate information about various aspects of governance. Interestingly, Kejriwal’s most visible NGO Parivartan -- policy change agent -- was set up by him in 2000, when he was still in service.