New Delhi, Dec. 6: Union minister for women and child development Maneka Gandhi has complained against her ministry's secretary, Leena Nair, to the Prime Minister's Office over the officer's alleged abrasive behaviour and obstructionist ways.

Nair was not available for comment. She did not respond to an email sent last evening seeking her response to the allegations against her.

Sources said Maneka had called up minister of state in the PMO, Jitendra Singh, and expressed displeasure about the 1982 batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer.

The move came after complaints from several officers, one of whom allegedly threatened to quit.

Senior officials said that since Nair took charge in June this year, she has been holding back files, affecting work. "There are people in the ministry who want to seek transfers because she is not someone they want to work with. We have taken it up with the minister," said an official.

Even Krishna Raj, the junior minister, is upset with Nair, the sources said. "She (Nair) has created a situation where the MoS (minister of state) has no wherewithal to work. It's a very distasteful way of functioning," said another official.

During conversations with colleagues, the sources said, Nair boasts about her proximity to cabinet secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha. "She has dropped names even in the presence of the minister specifically about a senior bureaucrat who she refers to as her 'big brother'," said the official.

Recently, the minister had asked for some files on NGOs and their funding. "The secretary (Nair) asked her to send the files back and it seemed she didn't want the files seen by the minister. This has become a routine. The minister was very upset about it," the official said.