In a note to Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj on Wednesday alleged that Chief Secretary (CS) Naresh Kumar has cleverly hidden the most important facts mentioned in the U.O. Note of 24 December.

“My U.O. Note dated 24.12.2023 had a very specific direction that the Chief  Secretary has to constitute a Committee under the chairmanship of HOD, Health Dept (i.e. Secretary (Health)) and provide an ATR about the constitution of this Committee within six hours. I believe this work for any officer of Chief Secretary stature would not have taken more than an hour. That committee was required to give a preliminary report in 24 hours and final report in 7 days. It was also supposed to recommend action against the outsourcing agency if it was found guilty by this Committee. However, neither the direction has still been complied with nor the Committee has been constituted (without providing any reasons for non-compliance thereof by the Chief Secretary),” Bharadwaj said.

Accusing the Chief Secretary for leaking a note to the media, Bharadwaj has sought his dismissal from the post. This is very surprising that the Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar’s office or

Chief Secretary himself leaked the ATR to the Media. I am also attaching screenshot of my Wattsapp, in which a Journalist had sent me the ATR at 21:15 pm on 25.12.2023. This is enough evidence that the Chief Secretary office or the Chief Secretary himself have shared the official note with Media,”he said. Expressing his concerns, Bharadwaj stated that this raises doubts about the political neutrality of the Chief Secretary and his staff.

He further writes, “Clearly the CS is manipulating the facts to show that he submitted ATR in exactly 6 hours just to cover the compliance of the directions in the stipulated time. After my response to the Media that no ATR has been shared by the CS, the CS came into action and he or his staff surprisingly leaked the copies of the ATR to the Media.”

“The staff was under direction from the Chief Secretary to not accept any such U0 note at his residence. The staff at Chief Secretary’s Residence also spoke on phone with my office staff and still refused to receive the urgent note saying that it is the clear direction of the Chief Secretary not to receive any Dak...” Bharadwaj said in his note.