Delhi officials summoned by assembly committees

The committees summoned Ashish More, who was recently removed as services secretary, and YVVJ Rajasekhar — special secretary services

Two separate committees of the Delhi assembly have summoned two officials of the Delhi government over allegations of corruption and making alleged casteist remarks, officials aware of the matter said on Tuesday.

One of the officers was engaged in a tussle with services minister Saurabh Bharadwaj over the forwarding of the file for his transfer. (ANI)

Ashish More, who was recently removed as the secretary of the services department after a tiff with minister Saurabh Bharadwaj over alleged insubordination, and YVVJ Rajasekhar -- the special secretary in the services department -- have been summoned by the Petitions Committee and the Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes respectively.

More has been asked to appear on Wednesday, while Rajasekhar was summoned on Tuesday but he failed to appear and sought two weeks’ time, officials said.

The conflict between the two officials began soon after the May 11 Supreme Court judgment which said that the elected government has control over all bureaucrats except those in departments related to land, police and public order.

More was engaged in a tussle with services minister Saurabh Bharadwaj over the forwarding of the file for his transfer. Later, the civil services board transferred More out of the services department.

The government ordered that Rajasekhar be divested of his charge after alleging that the special secretary (vigilance) was running “an extortion racket”. Rajasekhar denied all allegations against him. The lieutenant governor (LG) reinstated Rajasekhar as special secretary after the Centre promulgated an ordinance on May 19, effectively nullifying the top court’s ruling, and giving the control over services to the LG.

Speaking about the petitions, an official, declining to be named, said, “A petition has been received regarding allegations of land transfer fraud against Ashish More. Last year, five SDMs and one ADM were suspended for the same land transfer fraud in Jhangola Village of North district. In 2013 when Ashish More was serving as DM north district, he decided the appeals where illegal land transfers were made.”

In the same land transfer issue, chief secretary Naresh Kumar and divisional commissioner Ashwini Kumar have also been summoned by the assembly panel. All of them have been asked to appear before the panel at 3:45pm.

Officials said that the assembly panel on welfare of SC and ST has received a complaint from Nakul Kashyap, the son of a deceased nursing orderly working with Lok Nayak Hospital, alleging that the Rajasekhar used casteist remarks against him.

The petition committee is currently chaired by AAP MLA Rajesh Gupta and has eight members.

More did not respond to repeated attempts to seek comment.

Rajasekhar, in a response to the assembly panel, sought two weeks to ascertain the records and appear before the committee with all the facts related to the allegation. In a letter to the assembly secretariat, Rajasekhar also said that services matters are outside the preview of the assembly. “The complaint against me is far from truth, biased,” Rajasekhkar said.

HT reached out to Naresh Kumar and Ashwini Kumar , but neither officer responded to requests for comment.