Conversely, Subramanyam, hurt by the sentiment, offered to resign on moral grounds though both Chief Minister Narayan Rane and his deputy Gopinath Munde persuaded him to refrain from acting in haste. This transpired at a meeting convened by Rane on Tuesday, when the Bombay High Court ordered the State Government to reinstate Bhatia as Pune Municipal Commissioner.

A section of Cabinet ministers from both the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) point out that before the High Court delivered its verdict, it had given the alliance government a chance to reconsider its decision to abruptly transfer Bhatia. ``We lost the opportunity and as a result, the government had to faceembarrassment,'' a BJP minister told The Indian Express.

Second, the ministers feel the chief secretary should not have turned a deaf ear to the repeated complaints from Bhatia regarding issues he had raised. ``Ever since he was appointed Pune divisional commissioner, Bhatia frequently wrote to the chief secretary apprising him of corruption at the grassroots level, irregularities allegedly committed by the then collector V K Mathankar and corruption in irrigation projects under the Krishna Valley Development Corporation (KVDC). However, his complaints were largely ignored. This apparently prompted Bhatia to rush to the Fourth Estate,'' the minister adds.

Another section of the Cabinet feels Bhatia should have been more circumspect. His failure to do so should have alternatively prompted Subramanyam to nip Bhatia's ``indiscipline'' in the bud. In January, for instance, when Bhatia released a confidential report to the media, the bureaucrat should have been pulled up at the time. ``Certainly, themedia was interested in learning of corruption in the KVDC. But it was improper of Bhatia to officially release this to the press,'' the minister says. In fact, he points out, former chief minister Manohar Joshi had stated that this amounted to indiscipline but no action was taken.

Also, following Bhatia's transfer from the Pune Municipal Corporation to the Department of Archieves as its director, Rane had told the Fourth Estate on March 6 that his government would appoint an official of the rank of additional chief secretary to investigate charges of indiscipline against him. However, more than a month has passed but the matter has not been pursued, says a Shiv Sena minister. ``Was it not the chief secretary's responsibility to appoint an officer to conduct the inquiry and file a chargesheet against him?'' he asks.

Now, the government is considering appointing former judge of the Bombay High Court, Justice M L Dudhat, to conduct an inquiry against Bhatia. Justice Dudhat had conducted an inquiry againstformer agriculture minister Shashikant Sutar under the Commissions of Inquiry Act. ``The judge has given his consent. We are awaiting the chief minister's approval,'' according to a senior official.