Delhi assembly panel writes to chief secy after spl secy doesn’t appear before it

The panel asked Kumar to ensure that the officer is personally present at its next meeting on June 13

The Delhi assembly scheduled caste and scheduled tribes welfare committee on Thursday wrote to chief secretary Naresh Kumar to express its displeasure after special secretary (services) YVVJ Rajasekhar did not appear before it on June 6.

Rajasekhar sought two weeks’ time to ascertain the records and appear with all facts related to the allegation. (HT File)

The panel asked Kumar to ensure that the officer is personally present at its next meeting on June 13, and called his absence “irresponsible attitude”.

HT reached out to Rajasekhar and Kumar, but neither officer commented on the matter.

Rajasekhar has been accused of misbehaving and using casteist remarks against a man identified as Nakul Kashyap, the son of a deceased orderly at Lok Nayak Hospital, when he had gone to meet the officer in pursuance with his application for appointment on compassionate grounds.

After receiving the June 6 summons, Rajasekhar sought two weeks’ time to ascertain the records and appear with all facts related to the allegation. In a letter to the assembly, Rajasekhar also said that services matters are outside the preview of the assembly. “The complaint against me is far from truth, biased,” Rajasekhkar said, requesting the committee to get a version of the complaint on an affidavit.

Rajasekhar has been in the eye of the storm since May 13, when Delhi services minister Saurabh Bharadwaj divested him of all duties, citing allegations of corruption and extortion, soon after the Supreme Court gave the power over services to the Delhi government. The officer rejected the graft charges as baseless, and said in a report to the lieutenant governor, chief secretary and others that he was framed using a forged document.

A 2012 batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre, Rajasekhar has been at the helm of several probes against the Delhi government, including the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22, advertising expenses, alleged instances of the government “spying”, and the expenses made while renovating the CM’s official residence.