Two senior bureaucrats who faced criticism for allegedly  stonewalling some major decisions of the Kejriwal Government are vying for lucrative  post-retirement office, fuelling speculation that they could be rewarded for their stand. 

DIP Principal secretary and  Director Jaydev Sarangi and  Food Commissioner Mohanjeet Singh  are in the race for the post of member of the newly-created  Police Complaints Authority (PCA).

Sarangi regularly briefs the media on behalf of IAS Association and has been highly critical of the Kejriwal government on many issues.  He  and the AAP government has also been on loggerheads on  sanctioning awareness and advertising campaigns. He is due to retire in January.

Similarly, Food Commissioner Mohanjeet Singh who blocked doorstep delivery for ration, has also applied  for the post.  Singh, is also the DSIIDC MD - and has been accused by the AAP leaders of  opposing developmental works in unauthorised colonies.   

In 2006 in the  Prakash Singh case, the Supreme court  had ruled that every state must form a Police Complaints Authority (PCA).

Since Delhi did not act on the SC directive, a  PIl was filed in Delhi High Court in 2012 that PCA had not been set-up in the national capital.

In November 2015, AAP Cabinet gave in-principle nod for setting-up of PCA.  Things moved with snail pace

thereafter and before the Kejriwal government could put the Authority in place, came the Delhi High court’s August 2016 decision  which made it clear the lieutenant governor was the master of administration.

Then all of a sudden In 2018 January, the lG informed the Delhi High Court that PCA was being set-up without holding any consultation with the state government.  In June, the Home Department advertised the vacancies for PCA posts. On August 7, Burari MlA Sanjeev Jha challenged in the Delhi High Court the lG’s decision to set up the PCA by kleepin g the  elected govt  in the dark.

The court issued notices on his petition and the matter is expected to  come up for hearing in October.

Jha alleged that the way the PCA has been set up clearly exposed the design to reward these bureaucrats, who scuttled every effort  of the elected-Government to bring improvement in the area  of administration. “ The fact that both have them applied for the two posts of members  in the PCA gives me enough reasons to suspect  thet they are being rewarded for creating trouble for the AAP Government.

The matter should have been kept on hold till my petition was disposed of by the High court,” Jha told The Pioneer.