Kejriwal govt fumes at babus; Minister accuses chief secy of insubordination
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, August 25: Within a few days of parliament approving Delhi Services Bill, Arvind Kejriwal-led council of ministers in Delhi is raining accusations at the bureaucracy. Following Kejriwal’s rant against the new law mandating the chief minister to head a panel also consisting of the chief secretary and home secretary on transfer and postings of officials, Delhi Minister Atishi rained accusations on the top bureaucrat in the national capital.
“The result of this Bill was seen by us on August 21 itself, just after the 10 days of notification of the bill. Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar, in a 10-page letter to the Minister, refused to accept an order issued by the latter. As a Services and Vigilance Minister, I gave an order to the Chief Secretary, Secretary (Services), and Secretary (Vigilance) on August 16 for better coordination of NCCSA and departments of the Delhi government, but in a 10-page letter addressed to me, the Chief Secretary mentioned the GNCTD (Amendment) Bill and stated that the elected government does not have the power to decide; the Chief Secretary does,” Atishi said during a presser.
Incidentally, no meeting of the said panel has taken so far. The officials have maintained that the chief minister had postponed meetings at least on three occasions. Also, there are dozens of officials awaiting their postings in the absence of the services panel holding the meeting.
It may also be recalled that Kejriwal had hit out at the Centre for enacting the service amendment law to club the chief minister with two officials, claiming that it amounted to sabotaging democratically elected government in the national capital.
“Section 45(J)5 of this act says that the bureaucracy has the right to not accept the decision of the Minister. It says that the Chief Secretary can refuse to accept and execute the orders of Ministers if they want. But given the mention in the GNCTD (Amendment) Bill 2023, tomorrow all secretaries can or may refuse to accept the orders of the Ministers by writing long letters,” claimed Atishi
She further said that “despite agreeing that this bill is unconstitutional and challenging it in the Supreme Court, we agreed to hold the meetings of the authority”. “Because this bill is now a law of the country and the works of the people of Delhi must not stop now. I had issued orders on August 16, and on August 21, the Chief Secretary refused to accept the orders. This means that today an unelected bureaucracy is deciding in Delhi how this city will run. This will now impact the works of the people of Delhi and will bring them to a halt. We tried creating a coordination mechanism for NCCSA, but the Chief Secretary has refused to accept it,” she added.
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