Ashok Khemka, a senior administrative officer in the Indian state of Haryana, is an IAS officer who has been transferred 57times throughout his career. He was born on April 30, 1965, in Kolkata, the capital of the northeastern state of Bengal. He graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur in 1988 and obtained a PhD in Computer Science as well as an MBA from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai.
A 1991-batch IAS officer, Khemka has exposed corruption across various departments. Serving in his home cadre of Haryana, he has faced frequent transfers by successive state governments, having been transferred 57 times over a span of 34 years.
In Haryana, Khemka was transferred repeatedly whenever a new government took office. The longest tenure of his career was a 15-month stint as Director of the Department of Labour, Employment, and Training. He frequently expressed his displeasure with the government through the media regarding these constant transfers.
Dr. Khemka was transferred multiple times during the Bansi Lal-led government. Under the leadership of Om Prakash Chautala, he was transferred nine times in five years. He also faced multiple transfers during the Congress government led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Subsequently, during the BJP government led by Manohar Lal Khattar, he was transferred another six to seven times.
During his career, Dr. Ashok Khemka also received death threats. He was threatened with death after taking action regarding suspicious land deals between Robert Vadra—son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi—and the real estate company DLF; a complaint regarding this was lodged with the Panchkula police by K.R. Sharma, a Chief Manager at HSD.
Dr. Ashok Khemka was honored with the Jindal Prize in 2011 for his crusade against corruption. Additionally, he received a cash award of ₹10 lakh, shared with Sanjiv Chaturvedi, in recognition of his determined efforts to expose corruption in high places. Ashok Khemka retired on April 30, 2025. He was serving as the Additional Chief Secretary of the Transport Department at the time, and it was from this position that he retired.