Manish Sisodia orders removal of official who refused to hold Facebook live on GST

Director of information and publicity Jayadev Sarangi had refused to organise a Facebook Live with Delhi traders claiming that claiming that an “open tender” was required to hold it.

Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia has ordered action against director of information and publicity Jayadev Sarangi for ‘not been able to deliver on works assigned to the officer’.

Manish Sisodia wrote to chief secretary MM Kutty on Monday, asking him to initiate proceedings against Jayadev Sarangi for ‘dereliction of duty’, and replace him with an ‘officer who can perform’. (Mohd Zakir/HT FILE)

Sisodia wrote to chief secretary MM Kutty on Monday, asking him to initiate proceedings against Sarangi for ‘dereliction of duty’, and replace him with an ‘officer who can perform’.

The development comes days after the directorate of information and publicity turned down the deputy CM’s request to organise a Facebook Live to discuss the fallout of GST with traders, claiming that an “open tender” was required to hold it.

Stating that it “lacked technical competence and specialisation” for such a “social media campaign”, the DIP had said that it had no “other option” but to deny the request.

In his direction to the CS on Monday, Sisodia cited instances wherein Sarangi failed to implement his directions, including organising a Facebook Live with traders on GST.

In his order, Sisodia said how the officer failed to organise the Facebook Live, which required nothing more than an internet connection and camera.

“National GST Council met on June 3. I wanted to seek the views and suggestions of Delhi’s traders before going for this meeting. Therefore on May 25 and then on May 30, I directed Sh. Sarangi to arrange my FB Live interaction on June 1 or June 2. He wrote back to me saying that the same cannot be arranged as it would require open tender, which would need one month’s time. I was aghast to read that. Why do you need open tender for FB Live?”the office order reads.

“You do not need to spend a single penny on FB Live. This means this officer neither knows what FB Live is nor has desire to learn. It is really shameful that the director of information and publicity of the Capital of India does not know what FB Live is,” it added.

The deputy chief minister cited two other instances — preparing an advertisement campaign to make people aware about the increased minimum wages and putting up hoardings across the city about the performance of 12th grade students in government schools — over the past week when the director failed to execute his offer.

“...These are clear cases of dereliction of duty. The CS is hereby directed to initiate proceedings for dereliction of duty against him under intimation to this (Deputy CM) office. Either replace Mr. Sarangi with an officer who can perform these jobs or the CS should get following four jobs done…” Sisodia, who heads the DIP, said in his direction to the chief secretary.

The list of work handed over to the CS includes holding a Facebook Live before June 10 as the next GST Council meeting is scheduled for June 11, presentation of a detailed plan for publicity of minimum wages hike on June 6 at 12 noon, ensuring that hoardings of class 12 results are immediately put up starting from June 5 and ensure all radio and TV ads start running from June 6.