lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung’s refusal to appoint Anjur Garg as the VAT Commissioner had sparked off a major controversy with the AAP Government terming the l-G’s move as “unlawful”. The l-G had turned down the Government’s proposal on the ground that Garg was too junior to hold the high profile post. Interestingly, Garg has reportedly conveyed to his seniors that he was not interested in taking up the new job due to politicisation of his appointment as VAT Commissioner and the second is that he was “too much occupied with his current assignment.”
According to sources, the l-G had primarily rejected Garg for the post of the VAT chief as such a move would have send a wrong signal among the top bureaucracy. “If Garg would have been appointed as the VAT chief, he would have bypassed as many as 40 of his seniors, which would not have been acceptable to the top bureaucrats. He was not on the Rs10,000 pay scale grade which is necessary for VAT Commissioner.
A week after rejection of the AAP Government’s proposal to appoint South-West district magistrate and 2002 batch IAS officer Ankur Garg as VAT Commissioner of Delhi, sources in Raj Niwas claimed that the AAP Government has already effected transfer and postings of about 60 IAS officers after taking over in Delhi in February.
“All these transfers and postings were cleared by Najeeb Jung himself. As far as Ankur Garg’s appointment is concerned, the AAP Government was making an effort to bypass at least 40 senior level officials of Delhi Government,” said the sources.