[HumJanenge] Beijing station chief of RAW dismissed for professional misconduct

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-08-07/india/33082568_1_intelligence-agency-rabinder-singh-postings

NEW DELHI: The government has dismissed Amreet Ahluwalia, Beijing
station chief of external intelligence agency Research & Analysis Wing
(RAW) for professional misconduct, including possible compromise of
operational secrets.

Sources said there may not have been any espionage angle to the
dismissal of Ahluwalia.

The joint secretary rank officer was dismissed under Article 311 of
the Constitution which empowers the President to outright dismiss a
government servant "in the interest of the security of the State".
Sources said the decision was approved by the Prime Minister, and
formally signed into order by former President Pratibha Patil during
her last days in office.

A senior official in the security establishment said Ahluwalia was
dismissed for "professional misconduct" that may have compromised
"operational secrets". But he said that Ahluwalia's act may not have
involved any foreigners.

Sources indicated Ahluwalia may have crossed professional contours and
defied the RAW hierarchy. He may also have developed serious
professional differences with his superiors in the agency, leading to
virtual defiance of the regimented RAW hierarchy and its secrecy.

One report indicated that he may have threatened to take his
professional disagreements to the political leadership. During his
posting in the US earlier, he had a similar run in with the agency
leadership after he established direct contacts with the top brass of
the security establishment. He was reprimanded in that case.

For a second time when Ahluwalia exhibited the same behaviour the
government may have decided to put an abrupt end to his recalcitrant
ways than let another controversy to erupt in the security
establishment.

Ahluwalia, a member of RAW, had been a high-profile member of the
intelligence agency with foreign postings including in the US as well
as sensitive domestic postings in headquarters and Jammu and Kashmir.

Section 2 of Article 311 is rarely invoked to dismiss an officer
without an inquiry. It is used mostly by the intelligence and military
apparatus, in cases where detailed inquiries can compromise national
security details. RAW had invoked the clause, when Rabinder Singh, a
senior member of the intelligence agency, defected to the US after
allegedly being a CIA mole for years. No retirement benefits would be
available to officers dismissed under the provision.