The ongoing battle between lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is said to have brought down the morale of many bureaucrats, according to sources.
A highly placed source said many senior officers were perturbed over the recent developments which they claimed had badly hampered their day-to-day administrative functioning.
A senior officer said on the condition of anonymity that neither the l-G nor the Chief Secretary was taking any clear stand as a result of which many of them had to suffer at the hands of the AAP Government. “What can we expect from our Chief Secretary who himself was served a show-cause notice by the Chief Minister. Either the Chief Secretary or the l-G should come forward to protect bureaucrats. If they don’t, it is better to toe the Kejriwal Government’s lines. It is strange that the l-G who enjoys full support from Union Home Secretary and Home Ministry, is also not protecting officers against Kejriwal’s dictates,” said a senior officer.
Take a case of a Principal Secretary (power) Shakuntala Gamlin, a 1984 batch IAS officer who had hogged the headlines after she had refused to follow the AAP Government’s suggestion to withdraw her name from a panel to hold temporary charge of the chief secretary, who had to proceed on a 10-day leave to meet his daughter in the United States.
The l-G neither protected Gamlin nor issued any direction when Secretary (power) Sukesh Jain, appointed by Kejriwal occupied her office.
She is currently on child care leave for a six month.
The case of 1998 batch officer Dharampal is similar, who was removed from the post of the secretary (home) despite the fact that he had followed the orders of the l-G over the appointment of joint commissioner of police M K Meena as the head of the Anti Corruption Bureau.
Finally Kejriwal managed to remove Dharampal from the post of secretary (home). Dharampal is currently holding the charge of Secretary (land and Building) in the Delhi Government. He wasn’t protected by either the Chief Secretary or the l-G.
Even finance Commissioner Anindo Majumdar was unceremoniously removed from the post of the Principal Secretary (GAD) for handing over temporary charge of the Chief Secretary to Gamlin on the instructions of the lieutenant Governor, said sources.
Things came to such a pass that Majumdar’s room was even locked and he had to function from Gamlin’s office in Player’s Building. Raj Niwas did not come to his rescue and he transferred as Finance Commissioner which is considered as less important department, sources said.
Delhi State Subordination Selection Board secretary Geetanjali Kundra too had to face the heat after she refused to sign an order in the capacity of the principal secretary-cum-transport commissioner in connection with some Motor Vehicle Amendment rules.
She was transferred by the AAP Government after she said that the l-G’s nod was required to pass any such rule. Kundra was given the charge in the DSSSB and asked to report to an officer who is relatively junior to her.
A 1985 IAS officer Parimal Rai, who was brought to Delhi from Goa, was given charge of the principal secretary in the child and social welfare department. Generally, the job of the department is entrusted to relatively junior bureaucrats. Rai too had courted controversy after he had shown his disinterest in taking temporary charge of the CS for 10 days.
Even divisional commissioner Ashwani Kumar was transferred as secretary environment for suggesting that the lieutenant Governor’s approval was required for changing circle states in the national Capital.