Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena has directed "surrendering of the services" of an IAS officer at the disposal of Department of Personnel and Training for repatriation to his parent cadre over his alleged "lackadaisical approach" in finalising a tripartite agreement.  In a communication to DDA Vice-chairman Ashish Kundra, Principal Secretary to LG Saxena said several meetings were held under Saxena over utilising drone surveys.

“Hon'ble Lt. Governor has taken a dim view of lackadaisical approach of Commissioner Land Management, Vikas Singh (lAS). He has taken a strong exception to the lack of seriousness and diligence which is expected of an officer of this seniority. His contribution in the work assigned to him has been sub-par. Lt. Governor has desired that his services may be surrendered at the disposal of Department of Personnel and Training for repatriation to his parent cadre immediately,” Kundra said.

 "I am writing to address a critical issue regarding utilising drone surveys to generate and analyse the data to determine the current status of the land, including encroachments, unauthorised constructions, change detection etc, which was discussed and deliberated in meetings chaired by the Lt Governor on June 6, August 2, and August 16," read the communication.

 These meetings attended by the chief secretary of Delhi, commissioners of the MCD and other senior officials, focused on expanding the scope of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) dated August 23, 2019, between the DDA and the Survey of India (Sol) into a tripartite agreement by including the MCD.

 "This expansion is intended to ensure that the outputs of the drone surveys benefit all concerned government organisations and citizens of Delhi. "It has been noted with grave concern that despite commitment in June itself to finalise the tripartite agreement of the DDA, MCD and Survey of India within a week and to start the work on ground, nothing has happened in this regard," it noted.

 The communication alleged that in a meeting on August 16, the commissioner land management, DDA, "tried to cover up regarding agreement not being done by stating that Survey of India had flagged some issues", whereas, the officials present in the meeting said they have not even received a copy of the agreement yet.

 "His contribution in the work assigned to him has been sub-par. Hon'ble Lt Governor has desired that his services may be surrendered at the disposal of Department of Personnel and Training for repatriation to his parent cadre immediately," said the communication.

 The letter also emphasised the "continued delay on flimsy grounds" undermines the directives issued by Saxena stressing upon the use of advanced technologies for maintaining records for land management, and also, the directives issued by the High Court of Delhi in different cases, "which is unacceptable".