Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday met Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena days after the Supreme Court delivered a verdict in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government vs the LG row.
The meeting came after Saxena wrote to Kejriwal alleging “unconstitutional brazenness, intimidation and disregard of rules and procedures” by the AAP government following the Supreme Court verdict on services matters.
“I met the LG. I asked him when he is clearing file to change the secretary. He said he is sending. I am hoping he will clear the file quickly. If we want to do administrative changes, services secretary do it,” Kejriwal told reporters.
Kejriwal said there are speculations that the Centre is bringing an ordinance to overturn the SC order. “If this is true, then it would be cheating with people of Delhi. This was the judgment of the constitution bench. After many years, people of Delhi got justice and the elected government can work for them,” he said.
In the letter to Kejriwal, the lieutenant governor said that in the past one week, a “gloomy face of governance” emerged in Delhi where “organised, structured and specialised administrative machinery” is yet again facing the “brunt” of “highhandedness” of the political executive.
“I write to you to bring to your notice the unconstitutional brazenness, intimidation and disregard of rules and procedures being indulged into by your government and its ministers, especially…(Services) Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, ever since the Constitution Bench judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court dated 11.05.2023,” Saxena’s letter read.
The letter to Kejriwal came after Delhi Cabinet ministers went to Saxena’s residence to request him to follow the Supreme Court’s verdict on matters pertaining to services. They later met the LG, with minister Atishi saying that he assured them of following the Supreme Court verdict.
Alleging a “chaotic style of governance”, Saxena claimed that decisions were being conveyed to him through Twitter and the media and that he was being held to ransom through consistent media pressure.
The lieutenant governor said it was unfortunate that Kejriwal and his ministers “in a dramatic and convoluted fashion, immediately went on a rampage issuing orders, in gross disregard of the rules and procedures laid down with regards to administrative functions through the Civil Services Board (CSB), as per directions of none less but the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India itself, in 2013 in the matter of TSR Subramanian vs. Union of India”.
Saxena also flagged instances of alleged “misbehaviour” by Services Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj with IAS officers, including a woman officer. He also referred to allegations of alleged trespass in an officer’s chamber and “taking unlawful custody of certain files, which were related to cases of corruption like those in the new Excise Policy and the residence of the Hon’ble Chief Minister, among others, that were being looked into by the Department”.
The lieutenant governor’s letter referred to the allegation of Services Secretary Ashish More, who was removed by the AAP dispensation, against minister Saurabh Bharadwaj.
Kejriwal ‘Shocked’ by Saxena’s Letter, Its Language
Responding to Saxena’s letter, Kejriwal said he was “shocked” by the language of the Lieutenant Governor’s letter to him and the issues raised, and alleged that it smacked of “bickering”.
Saxena earlier in the day wrote to Kejriwal, raising the issue of alleged misbehaviour of Services Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj with Services Secretary Ashish More.
In his response, Kejriwal said he cannot believe the lieutenant governor’s words against Bharadwaj.
Bharadwaj a person having “such calm and congenial nature” and yet if he indeed said anything Saxena could summon him and upbraid him as he was like his younger brother, Kejriwal said.
Kejriwal, in his letter to Saxena, defended Bharadwaj and questioned whether “such things” should be topic of any correspondence involving a lieutenant governor and a chief minister.
(With PTI inputs)
Comments
0 comment