Headlines
New Centre-Delhi showdown looms as official asked to vacate Secretariat
By
By Gaurav SharmaNew Delhi, June 14
Signalling the start of
another tussle with the Narendra Modi government over who has authority
over bureaucrats serving in the Delhi administration, the AAP government
has asked Delhi Home Secretary Dharam Pal, who is the union
government's appointee, to move out of the office or face action.
In
a terse note to Pal, Delhi minister Satyendra Jain has warned him of
"disciplinary and administrative action" if he continues to occupy his
office located on the fifth floor of the secretariat in central Delhi.
"Dharam
Pal has already been relieved by the Delhi government from the
afternoon of June 9 and if he continues to occupy office in the
secretariat, the same would be considered unauthorized occupation, and
he would be liable for administrative as well as disciplinary action in
this regard," said the one-page note signed by Jain, who has charge of
the home department and which was seen by IANS.
The Aam Aadmi
Party government on June 9 had "repatriated" Pal for notifying
appointment of Delhi Police's Joint Commissioner M.K. Meena as the new
chief of the Anti-Corruption Branch and given Rajendra Kumar, who is
secretary to the chief minister, additional charge of home department.
Meena was appointed the new ACB chief by Lt Governor Najeeb Jung,
superseding Kejriwal's handpicked candidate S.S. Yadav.
The move
to replace Pal was rejected by the union government as "ab initio
void", but Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal shot back, saying the order
was indeed valid.
The latest missive of Jain comes in the wake of
both Kumar and Pal working as principal secretaries (home) creating an
anomalous situation. Both have refused to budge. While Pal is signing
files from his office on the fifth floor, Kumar is taking decisions
related to home department sitting on the third floor which has
Kejriwal's office.
In his note, Jain has asked Chief Secretary
K.K. Sharma to "ensure files of home department are NOT put up to" Pal
who is "unauthorizedly occupying the the post of principal secretary,
but to the officer assigned the charge of secretary (home) (Kumar) by
the services department". It also asks all officers in the department to
strictly comply with the order.
Pal is backed by the union home ministry, which had on June 11 decree, rejected his transfer by the Kejriwal government.
In
a three-page communication to Chief Secretary Sharma, it said Delhi had
no authority to place the services of any officer of the AGMUT
(Arunachal, Goa, Mizoram, Union Territory) cadre with the ministry and
asked him to ensure that Pal "functions without disruption".
But the AAP is sticking by its choice.
In
his reply to the home ministry, Kejriwal wrote that posting of senior
bureaucrats was indeed the prerogative of the central government, but
the discretion of allocating work to them was with the city government.
He also said it was up to the judiciary to decide whether the transfer was void since the issue was in court.
In
recent days, there have been various flashpoints in the issue between
the Kejriwal government and Jung, beginning with the later's decision to
appoint Shakuntala Gamlin as acting chief secretary - a decision
vigorously protested by the AAP.
(Gaurav Sharma can be contacted at [email protected])