Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena has approved temporary dissolution of the Delhi Dialogue and Development Commission (DDCD) and removal of its non-official members, till a mechanism is developed for screening and selection of domain experts as its vice chairman and members, as per the rules.

In a file sent to the Delhi chief secretary, the Lieutenant Governor noted the incumbent Vice-Chairperson Jasmine Shah has already been restrained to function on the post due to his political activities and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, chairman DDCD is in a judicial custody in a money laundering case.

“Moreover, as per the Planning Department, it is also on record that there is no work allocation amongst the Members of DDCD. Therefore, the continuation of non-official Members, whose appointment was made in an arbitrary manner without following any procedure, drawing huge salaries is not only undesirable but also patently illegal,” LG noted. 

Saxena said that it  is a blatant and clear case of nepotism and favouritism in utter disregard of all rules. He has asked the Finance Department to humanly explore the possibility of recovering salaries paid to these non-official members of DDCD.

“The whole exercise of creating the DDCD by the incumbent Government was only to extend financial benefits and extend patronage to certain favoured political persons of partisan inclinations. “Politically appointed persons holding these positions, were allowed to continue on these positions at the whims and fancies of the Chief Minister. There was no screening through a transparent process, and huge salaries were paid from the public exchequer, which were incommensurate to the duties assigned. The Planning Department of Delhi Government has put on record that there is no work allocation amongst the Members of DDCD and, therefore, the continuation of non-official Members, drawing huge salaries is not only “undesirable” but also patently illegal,” the Lieutenant Governor said in a note to Chief Secretary. 

Saxena further said that all the Members of DDCD were being paid salary in the rank and pay equivalent to the Secretary to the Government of India.

The Lieutenant Governor highlighted how Dven more baffling is the case of appointment of Gopal Mohan as Non-Official Member in March 2020. The Three-Member Committee constituted by the then Lt. Governor in 2016 to look into executive actions of the incumbent government had commented in respect of the appointment of Mohan as Advisor to Chief Minister. The Committee had pointed out as to how the political dispensation with some deft moves and sleight of hand elevated his position and arbitrarily decided his pay and perks.  Despite these observations, Mohan was again accommodated, this time by appointing him as Non-Official Member of DDCD in the rank, pay and facilities equivalent to Secretary to the Government of India. It appears this decision was only made with an objective of accommodating  Mohan and other politically affiliated persons by offering them disproportionate pay and perks.

In view of the arbitrary nature of appointments, it is abundantly clear that all the actions taken in the  appointment of Vice-Chairperson, non-official members without following due process are void ab-initio. The incumbent Vice-Chairperson Shri Jasmine Shah has already been restrained to function on the post due to his political activities and Shri Arvind Kejriwal, Chairman DDCD is in a judicial custody in a money laundering case.

DDCD was established by the GNCTD through a Cabinet Decision No. 2131 dated 27th February, 2015. Some changes were made in its constitution and mandate vide subsequent Cabinet Decisions.

The DDCD was intended to be an institution of public importance to advise Govt. of NCT of Delhi on governance and technological solutions to various problems afflicting Delhi, therefore, there was a requirement to attract persons of eminence as Vice-Chairperson and Non-official Members.

It is on record that the suggestion of Planning Department, GNCTD for framing the terms of reference to include eligibility/ selection criteria for these positions and also for setting up a search committee for identification of suitable candidates for selection to these positions, did not find favor with the political dispensation.

Saxena’s note further states that it transpires from the record that the politically appointed persons holding these positions, were allowed to continue on these positions at the whims and fancies of the Chief Minister. There was no screening through a transparent process, and huge salaries were paid from the public exchequer, which were incommensurate to the duties assigned. It appears that the whole exercise of creating the DDCD by the incumbent Government was only to extend financial benefits and extend patronage to certain persons of partisan inclinations.

“ Ostensibly, the Commission was created to serve as a policy think-tank manned by domain experts, on the lines of the Planning Commission / NITI Aayog, so as to provide inputs of governance that a political executive assisted by mostly generalist civil services may be deprived of.  It was not meant to accommodate favoured individuals, unelected friends or politically partisan people,” Saxena in a note to Services Department.

Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva has welcomed the temporary dissolution of the DDCD and said it is regrettable that the Kejriwal government misused the DDCD which was intended to facilitate development work, for the financial upliftment of political allies, thereby embroiling the commission, created with good written objectives, in controversies since its inception.

Reacting to the development, Delhi cabinet minister Saurabh Bharadwaj accused Saxena of doing “petty politics”. “LG’s dissolving Delhi Dialogue Commision is petty politics. This is well known that all Commissions, Committees, boards of Central Govt or BJP ruled state Govts have political appointees without any test/interview.

“It’s an old practice. Women Commission, SC/ST Commision r all live examples. Irony is even Mr Viay Saxena’s appointment as LG is a political appointment without any advertisement, test or interview, (sic)” he said in a post on X.

The AAP leader said if there was an advertisement in newspapers for the post of LG, then he must enlighten the people of this country. Probably he competed in the written exam for becoming LG, Bharadwaj added.