The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has advised Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to route official communication via the office of the lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung’s office. The MHA directive came after Kejriwal’s office started sending communiqué to MHA directly and in the process bypassed the lG’s office.
According to the protocol, Chief Minister is supposed to report to the lt Governor — who is the head of Delhi Government — and the CM should route all his communications to the Union Government through lG’s office.
Top sources told The Pioneer that MHA is upset with the way Kejriwal has been communicating directly with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, bypassing protocol and the established norms.
It is the responsibility of the officers posted in the Chief Minister’s Office to advise him correctly about the procedure and the protocol but they are no doing so, sources from the MHA said. In a related development, Chief Secretary of Goa, KK Sharma is reportedly not so keen on joining the top post of Delhi Government as his wife is also posted in Goa. Sharma will retire next year.
Meanwhile, Delhi Government’s order to appoint 1985 batch IAS officer SN Sahai as acting Chief Secretary has also annoyed half a dozen senior officers here. Reporting to Sahai, who is much junior to them, will be a problem. Former CS SK Srivastava and Naini Jayaseelan are 1980 batch officers while Principal Secretary to lieutenant Governor Nutan Guha Biswas is 1983 batch officer. Nutan has sought central deputation. Principal Secretary (Home) Arvind Ray, Principal Secretary (Power) Shakuntala Gamlin, NDMC chairperson Jalaj Shrivastava are 1984 batch officers while Principal Secretary (GAD) Anindo Majumdar is 1985 batch and is also senior to Sahai.
Sources said that peeved over to the appointment of Sahai as the chief secretary, IAS officers who are senior to him in cadre are planning to submit a representation to the MHA. The big question is whether all senior officials will report Sahai, the sources added.