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Delhi LG, Kejriwal trade barbs over IAS officer’s charge against state govt
The LG termed the week since the Supreme Court’s May 11 verdict on services as one of the gloomy phases of governance in capital.
Three days after IAS officer Ashish More complained that services minister Saurabh Bhardwaj intimidated and detained him in his office, lieutenant governor VK Saxena on Friday wrote to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal flagging “unconstitutional brazenness and disregard of rules” by the government ministers after the Supreme Court’s May 11 services verdict.
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Kejriwal, in a letter to the LG, said a “sober person” like Bharadwaj cannot act in this manner, and added that even if the minister has done it, the LG being an “elder brother” should have “scolded” the minister.
The LG termed the week since the Supreme Court’s May 11 verdict on services as one of the gloomy phases of governance in capital, and added that the Delhi government “wants to coerce the administration unethically”.
Kejriwal said that he was shocked by both the topic of the letter, and the “unparliamentary language” used by LG. “Saurabh is a sober person. But, even if he has said something like that (to the officer) you should call and scold him because he is like your younger brother. Should this (the alleged behaviour of Bharadwaj) be a subject of correspondence between an LG and CM?” Kejriwal asked in his letter.
More had complained against the minister to the chief secretary and the Union home ministry through the LG. Bharadwaj, however, has rejected all allegations. “What could we have done even if he alleged that I physically assaulted him,” Bharadwaj said.
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The LG also mentioned Bharadwaj’s May 19 letter to his office seeking the stamp on files pertaining to transfer of officials. This included the file for transfer of More that was cleared by the Civil Services Board on Wednesday.
While LG said that the ministers were issuing orders in gross violation of rules, Kejriwal said that the people of Delhi won a huge victory from the Supreme Court and sought Saxena’s cooperation in his government’s work for the development of the Capital.
