DoT extends suspension of official Ashish Joshi by another 90 days

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has extended the suspension of the former controller of communication accounts, Ashish Joshi, by another 90 days, according to a social media post by the officer.

Joshi was suspended on February 26, 2019, after he approached the Delhi police demanding action against BJP leader Kapil Mishra for circulating on YouTube and Twitter a “highly incendiary video, provoking people to attack some citizens”.

Mishra, the former Aam Aadmi Party leader, had uploaded on social media a video, in which he vowed to “wage war” against “traitors”. Joshi wrote to the then Delhi police commissioner Amulya Patnaik, saying the content of Mishra’s video was in violation of the IT Act and Indian Penal Code.

“I have been under suspension for the last 880 days. Now extended by another 90 days,” Joshi said in his latest social media post.

When contacted, Joshi declined to comment further on his suspension matter.

Also, an email query sent to the DoT elicited no reply.

Joshi on February 19, 2019, had also issued an order to telecom operators to crack down on offensive or obscene messages and set up a helpline to receive complaints against such customers.

The DoT had charged Joshi for misusing official letterhead for filing a complaint against Mishra and also issuing orders to telecom operators on offensive messages with malafide intent without having any jurisdiction or making any advance preparation to address complaints that would come in response to the order.

Joshi was repatriated by the Delhi government to his parent cadre – telecom ministry in May 2015, following a spat with political leadership. He had filed a complaint with the anti-corruption bureau in 2015 against the then principal secretary of Delhi, Rajendra Kumar, based on which the Central Bureau of Investigation raided the Delhi Secretariat in December 2015. Indiatimes