Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena has returned a file to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on nomination of members to the Delhi Animal Welfare Board, noting that the nominees lacked experience and one was even a "tainted" former bureaucrat.
The Lt Governor has sent the file back with the observation to "review the proposal of the reconstitution of DAWB and ensure that the members being nominated possess impeccable character and integrity, have worked for welfare of animals and the board so constituted is representative of varied related organizations..
Sources said that the decision regarding the reconstitution of the board was delayed 27 months, despite the High Court of Delhi directions regarding the matter. The decision of the Arvind Kejriwal government kept the decision till December 14, 2022, and kept misleading the Court. “Even when, Kejriwal approved the file to this effect and sent it to LG for concurrence, he proposed the appointment of an Ex. Civil Servant, Rakesh Kumar Gaur (Retd. DANICS),facing vigilance inquiry and a Professor of Video and TV Production, Sabeena Gadihoke, to the reconstituted Board,” they stated.
“This move was in the clear violation of the Articles of Association of DAWB, which clearly enjoins that nominated Members on the Board should be ‘persons actively engaged in Animal Welfare Work in the State’. Both the said nominees of the Kejriwal government clearly did not posses any experience in the field of Animal Welfare as required by the Articles of Association of the Board,” sources said.
They said that the L-G highlighting the discrepancies in the reconstitution of the DAWB, has noted on the file that, “Rakesh Kumar Gaur (Retd. DANICS), has been nominated as a Member of DAWB, even though the retired officer is not clear from vigilance angle” and that “while Sabeena Gadihoke may prove to be a valuable resource in related fields, she apparently does not posses any experience in the field of Animal Welfare, as required by the Articles of Association of the Board.”
The sources said that Saxena has sent file back to the CM with observation to, “review proposal of reconstitution of DAWB/Executive Committee and ensure that Members being nominated possess impeccable character and integrity, have worked for welfare of animals and that Board so constituted is representative of varied related organizations. They underlined that the LG has noted on file, “since considerable time has already lapsed, the proposal may be resubmitted within two weeks for my consideration”.
“The LG has also flagged that the organizations/Institutions like the DAWB are constituted by different governments to cater to the requirements of specific areas that require niche expertise, that are generally not available with government.
Persons with such expertise on such Boards etc., ensure that required advice on issues, that may otherwise go unnoticed or unattended in day-to-day administration, is made available to the government for welfare of the segment aimed at,” they said.
“The officials noted that the even after this matter was being monitored by the High Court since May 2022, June 2022 to December 2022, the Development Minister, Gopal Rai kept the file pending for more than five months from June 27, 2022 to December 7, 2022, when he finally sent it to CM.
“Kejirwal then send the file to the LG on December 14, 2022, just a day before the matter was to be reheard in the High Court on December 15, 2022, when government counsel very conveniently and characteristically mislead the court saying that, the decision was pending with L-G,” they said.
Sources added that while disposing the file, the LG also noted, “I have on many occasions pointed out inordinate delays and lackadaisical approach on part of Ministers in disposal of files pertaining to important public works and critical issues of governance. I would again advise Chief Minister to address such concerns and review progress of all matters pending before the Ministers, in public interest”.