Centre asks Delhi government to leave 'confrontationist' attitude

New Delhi: Locked in a bitter turf war, the Centre on Saturday asked the Delhi government to leave its "confrontationist" attitude and not to create confusion in the administrative appointments, a mandate of which lies with the Union Home Ministry.

Taking note of the tussle over the functioning of Anti Corruption Branch (ACB), highly-placed sources in the Ministry said the Delhi Legislature had been formed under 239AA of the Constitution where the state government has no say on the issues of Police, Public Order and Land.

They said, several measures have been taken by the Centre to make the Chief Minister to have a say in the functioning of the bureaucracy, but what has been witnessed in the recent past was a total confrontation between the Delhi Government and the Lt Governor Najeeb Jung.

For better functioning, the confrontational attitude has to be deserted, the sources said. On functioning of the ACB, they said, ACB was given the powers of a police station by a notification by the then Lt Governor.

The Centre can revoke that notification anytime and the ACB will never have the powers to even register an FIR, they warned, and also made it clear that the Delhi Government has no say in the appointment of Delhi's Chief Secretary, Home and Finance Secretaries and Delhi Police Commissioner.

Delhi Government appointed Rajendra Kumar in place of Dharam Pal as Home Secretary, which has not been recognised by the Centre and continues to route its files through him only.

The Centre also warned that Delhi was not a full-fledged state and, therefore, it could not seek deputation suo moto from other states, the sources said.

Delhi Government had appointed six police officials of Bihar Police in the ACB.

In a related development, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal along with his deputy Manish Sisodia and senior AAP party leader Kumar Vishwas called on Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday.

While the Delhi Government sources claimed that they apprised Singh about the alleged corruption charges against MK Meena, the Centre's appointee as Delhi ACB Chief, the Home Ministry sources said that the meeting dealt with local issues only and no contentious matters were discussed.

Kejriwal had sent a "secret" letter to the Home Minister listing allegations against Meena.