Bharadwaj urges LG to take action against top Delhi bureaucrat

The Delhi health minister accused the chief secretary of leaking a sensitive action-taken report related to the Burari sexual harassment case

Delhi health minister Saurabh Bharadwaj has urged lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena to initiate disciplinary proceedings against chief secretary Naresh Kumar, accusing the city’s top bureaucrat of leaking a sensitive action-taken report related to the Burari sexual harassment case, the minister’s office said on Wednesday.

Delhi health minister Saurabh Bharadwaj.Chief secretary Naresh Kumar said that the note was delivered to him six hours after it was published on the Aam Aadmi Party’s official handle on X. (PTI)

The development comes at a time when the state government and the bureaucracy have been locked in a bitter tussle over a series of issues.

The case concerns a woman working as a housekeeping staff on a contract basis at a government hospital in Burari, who has accused her manager and three supervisors of molesting and harassing her and two other employees.

Bharadwaj accused Kumar of failing to submit the report within the stipulated time, while the chief secretary, in turn, has said that the note was delivered to him six hours after it was published on the Aam Aadmi Party’s official handle on X, and proposed that the minister’s personal secretary be suspended and penalty proceedings be undertaken against him under Central Civil Services Rules, 1965, for engaging in political activities.

In response, Bharadwaj accused the bureaucrat of leaking details of the report, and demanded action be taken against him.

Along the same vein, the minister, in a letter to Saxena dated December 26, said, “I think it is a fit case to recommend the suspension of the chief secretary and his staff who were involved in leaking the report with the media. I also recommend suspension of chief secretary staff for their dereliction of duty by delaying the message to the chief secretary...”HT has seen a copy of the letter.

The LG office did not respond to the development.

Bharadwaj also accused Kumar of intimidating his staff. “The recommendation of the chief secretary against my office staff is simply an act to intimidate and threaten the staff,” he said. HT reached out to Kumar, who did not respond to request for comments.