Delhi assembly to discuss appointment of Rakesh Asthana as police commissioner

The Union home ministry announced the appointment of Asthana as the new Delhi police commissioner on Tuesday evening, three days before his retirement as the director general of the Border Security Force (BSF).

The Aam Aadmi Party legislators have said that they will discuss the appointment of Rakesh Asthana as the new Delhi police commissioner, which they claimed was done in violation of a Supreme Court judgment, in the two-day monsoon session of the Delhi assembly beginning Thursday.

Rakesh Asthana (Arun Sharma/HT PHOTO)

The Union home ministry announced the appointment of Asthana as the new Delhi police commissioner on Tuesday evening, three days before his retirement as the director general of the Border Security Force (BSF). He replaced Balaji Srivastava.

“In 2019, the SC ruled that no officer with less than six months of tenure left should be named to a top police job. In fact, Asthana was the front-runner for being the CBI chief in May, 2019, but was dropped after the Chief Justice of India, NV Ramana, pointed to the same SC ruling,” said Sanjeev Jha, AAP MLA from Burari, one of the three legislators who said they will discuss the issue on Thursday in the assembly. The other two MLAs are Akhilesh Pati Tripathi and Som Dutt.

The matter has been approved by the Speaker, and it is mentioned in the list of business for the day on Thursday.

The BJP members, however, said the SC ruling only applied to selection of state DGPs. They said apart from raising the issue of shortage of teachers in schools, they will also highlight how the Delhi government’s alleged failed to manage the Covid-19 crisis during the brutal fourth wave in Delhi in April-May.

“The Opposition will ask the Delhi government as to why the much renowned healthcare infrastructure in Delhi collapsed during the fourth wave, leaving people to fend for themselves. There were no beds in the hospitals, there was shortage of oxygen and ICU beds, despite Delhi having faced the three waves earlier and knowing its shortcomings,” said leader of opposition Ramvir Bidhuri.

The Congress also raised objections to Asthana’s appointment on Tuesday, saying was in “direct contravention” of a SC judgment and asked whether any “quid pro quo” was involved. “Not just is it an issue of inter-cadre appointment; the issue expands to another instance of blatant disregard towards the Supreme Court of India and the laws of the land,” Congress Pawan Khera alleged.

The AAP has 62 members in the 70-member Delhi assembly, while BJP has 8. The Congress has zero.

An MHA spokesperson did not comment on the matter.

The AAP legislators also plan to discuss the alleged failure of the city’s three municipal corporations, which are ruled by the BJP, in preventing waterlogging after heavy rains in the city this month. MLAs Akhilesh Pati Tripathi, Sanjeev Jha and Bhavna Gaur said the MCDs have failed to maintain drains that has led to chaos on roads.

The assembly will also pass a resolution recommending Bharat Ratna — India’s highest civilian award — to environmentalist Sunderlal Bahuguna, a founding member of the Chipko movement. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 17, demanding that the honour be conferred on the environmentalist.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs are also expected to raise the issue of shortage of teachers in Delhi government schools on the first day. On July 4, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said that 50% of the schools run by the civic bodies do not maintain pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) as mandated under the Right to Education (RTE) Act. However, the civic bodies claimed that the ratio was well within the legal limit.

The assembly secretariat has made it mandatory for all the 70 Delhi MLAs to get tested for Covid-19 before attending the session on Thursday. Those who do not have a test report will have to reach the assembly premises before the session starts at 11am to get a rapid antigen test, a senior official said.