New Delhi, May 15
A full-blown war erupted on
Friday between the Arvind Kejriwal-led government and Lt Governor Najeeb
Jung over the appointment of a bureaucrat as the chief secretary
in-charge who the former accused of lobbying for power distribution
companies.
While the AAP government accused Jung of acting
unconstitutionally by appointing Secretary (Services), Shakuntala
Gamlin, as the chief secretary in-charge, Jung asserted that he was
"competent" to do so.
Jung on Friday gave Gamlin the additional
charge of chief secretary of Delhi since incumbent Chief Secretary K.K.
Sharma is in the US for personal work.
Jung also expressed
regret "that name of senior officer was being brought in public domain
in such a manner, that too a lady officer and one belonging to the
northeast".
The Delhi government said it had "certain
reservations" about Gamlin's conduct and was hesitant to give her
additional charge of the chief secretary as she "was perceived to be
extremely close to electricity companies in Delhi and was lobbying for
their interests".
"However, the lieutenant governor, in a
completely unconstitutional manner appointed Shakuntala Gamlin, to this
position," the government said in a statement .
"The lieutenant
governor by-passed the elected government, the chief minister and deputy
chief minister (who also acts as the minister in-charge of services
department)," the statement said.
"The lieutenant governor does
not have the extra-ordinary powers under the constitution to by-pass the
elected government and issue instructions directly to the secretaries,
whatever be the provocation," the statement said.
Responding to
the charges, Jung said that under the constitution's article 239 AA, the
lt governor is the representative of state authority in Delhi and "in
appointment of chief secretary, he is competent to designate the
officiating chief secretary in consultation with the chief minister".
Jung
said he "approved the name of Gamlin as against the name proposed by
the chief minister considering she was senior and has a proven track
record".
"The name proposed by the chief minister did not figure
in the list of names submitted by the services department and the
concerned officer has not even been given a posting by the Delhi
government so far.
"There was nothing on file submitted to the Lt
Governor that indicated that the government had anything against
Gamlin," a statement from Jung's office said.
"The lt governor
had to order the services department to make the appointment since the
office of the chief secretary cannot be left inordinately vacant and the
chief minister had not cleared the file that had the Lt governor's
advice for over 36 hours," it added.
