Weeks after judicial panel held him responsible for Indore water tragedy, IAS officer made Collector

Just weeks after a Judicial Commission probe report on the Indore water contamination deaths was submitted to the Madhya Pradesh High Court, IAS officer Rohit Sisonia — the then-Additional Commissioner (water supply) of Indore Municipal Corporation, who was one of the two officials held “primarily responsible” for the tragedy — has been appointed Collector of Raisen district in a bureaucratic shuffle by the Government.

The appointment has been criticised by the Opposition Congress, with State unit president Jitu Patwari raising questions over the transparency of transfer postings in the State. “Instead of accountability, favouritism is being prioritized in important postings,” he wrote on X.

Mr. Sisonia, an IAS officer of 2017 batch, was posted as a Deputy Secretary in the Farmers Welfare and Agriculture Development Department. He has been made Raisen Collector in the reshuffle announced late on October 13, in which 23 IAS officers have been transferred.