Delhi govt cites note to allege CS bypassing CM; LG hits back

Tensions between the two originated nearly as soon as Saxena took charge of Raj Niwas in May last year

The ongoing tussle over Delhi’s bureaucratic machinery saw its latest saga unfold on Thursday, as a Delhi government official claimed that lieutenant governor VK Saxena “reprimanded” chief secretary Naresh Kumar for bypassing chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and sending files directly to Raj Niwas, an allegation the LG’s office dismissed and called a “falsehood”.

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According to the Delhi government officer cited above, who asked not to be named, Saxena directed chief secretary Kumar to route the files concerned through “proper channels” – in this case, the “office of the concerned minister”.

“The Delhi LG has strongly reprimanded the chief secretary for bypassing the elected government and the CM, in violation of constitutional norms and past SC judgments…. The LG has condemned the CS’ actions and directed that the file be sent through proper channels, that is, through the office of the concerned minister and the chief minister,” said the official, who asked not to be named.

However, officers in Raj Niwas dismissed the claims.

“The Delhi government has always resorted to perpetrating and perpetuating falsehood, and even in this case resorted to using words like reprimand and condemnation of the CS by LG. Things that never happened in writing or verbally,” LG office said in a statement.

The row has adopted elevated proportions over the past few weeks, especially after the Centre on May 19 issued an ordinance that effectively overruled a May 11 Supreme Court order, which gave the elected Delhi government control of the city’s administration. A bill that aims to replace the ordinance was passed in Lok Sabha on Thursday and will likely sail through the Upper House as well.

A Constitution bench of the Supreme Court is, however, slated to hear an appeal against the ordinance.

In the latest tussle, a Delhi government officer referred to a request by Delhi mayor Shelly Oberoi, who moved a file in June seeking permission to attend a mayor’s forum in Australia’s Brisbane city. However, said the official, the chief secretary circumvented urban development minister Saurabh Bhardwaj, and sent the file to Saxena.

To this, the LG office, in a note on July 21 said, “The proposal may be resubmitted through CM”. The note, a copy of which HT has seen, was signed by Harleen Kaur, special secretary to the LG.

However, in a statement, the LG’s office said Saxena has always “kept the CM in the loop” in all matters. “Despite the fact that as per extant rules, the CS was required to send the file directly to the LG, the LG secretariat sent the file back to chief secretary conveying LG’s “desire” that the file be resubmitted through the CM, solely because the LG, like always, wanted the CM to be kept in loop on decisions — especially those that concerned his political colleagues, in this case the mayor of the MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi),” said the statement.

“Even in the past, the LG has, contrary to the politically expedient charges made by the AAP government and its party functionaries, always kept the CM in loop in all matters- even those on which it was duly not required, in the interest of smooth governance,” added the statement.