S D Khare tried to assume charge on Monday, despite the director general (DG)'s instructions to the incumbent ADG, V Sridhar, not to hand over charge.Khare was assigned the post as per orders issued on September 28, when top revenue officers were transferred. Khare's is one of the names the DG, A K Pande, had opposed in the transfer orders issued by the Ministry. The other is that of Rahul Goel, as ADG, Calcutta (The Indian Express, Oct 11).

Pande had reportedly not been consulted on the two names, and had clearly conveyed to his superiors in the Revenue Administration his reservations about the officers' suitability in the key intelligence posts.

Khare has a controversial past, and was named in a case of alleged molestation of a woman trainee officer in his earlier tenure in Mumbai as Customs Commissioner, Airport. While hewas acquitted in the case, he was posted to Ahmedabad as Commissioner and then as Central Excise Commissioner (Appeals), Mumbai. He held this post till last month's transfer orders came.

According to the September 28 order, Sridhar and Khare are to swap posts. However, Sridhar is under instructions from the DG not to hand over charge to Khare.

Sources also reveal that the Chief Commissioner, Central Excise, G N Sarangi has not relieved Khare from his post as of Tuesday. Khare, however, is quoting the September 28 order which remains unmodified, and is therefore putting in his attendance at both the Central Excise and DRI offices.