The Railway Board has sought disciplinary action against an officer on special duty for breach of decorum, misconduct and for casting aspersions on Union Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal in an article, ThePrint reported on Monday.

Railway Board Secretary Ranjanesh Sahai has written to the Department of Personnel and Training, asking for the immediate repatriation of Sanjiv Kumar, a 2005 batch officer of the Indian Railway Personnel Service, PTI reported. Kumar is the Officer on Special Duty to Minister of State Jitendra Singh.

“A case of breach of official decorum and misconduct of Sanjiv Kumar, IRPS, has been brought to the notice of Railway Board,” Sahai said in the letter dated December 28. “Sanjiv Kumar has authored an article, published by Rail Samachar and National Wheels.”

Kumar, in an article on National Wheels, accused the Railway Board of indulging in corruption and favouring certain officers. “After 13 years of Indian Railway Personnel Services, I can say with certainty that in these years, no officer has done anything for the development of human resources of Indian Railways except for a few exceptions,” he said in the article, according to ThePrint. “Good efforts in the area have, in fact, been prevented.”

Kumar also accused the Railway Board chairperson of being driven by his own interests and those of his clique. Kumar claimed that the railway minister was also influenced by this favouritism. Ashwani Lohani had retired as Railway Board chairperson on Monday.

In the letter to the Department of Personnel and Training, Sahai said Kumar’s article was in “bad taste” and had questioned “the wisdom of senior functionaries of the level of secretary to the government” and cast “aspersions on the Minister of Railways”.

“In view of the violation of Rule 9 of the Railway Services (Conduct) Rules, 1966, it is proposed to take up the officer under the Railway Servants (Discipline & Appeal) Rules, 1968,” the letter said. “You would appreciate that misconduct of this nature and that too in the public domain would send a wrong message all around and encourage indiscipline in the service.”

Under Rule 9, a railway officer must not publicly criticise or embarrass the state or central governments.