The Arvind Kejriwal Government has decided to approach the Centre with a plea to get vacated all Government houses in the national Capital retained by IAS/DANICS who are not posted in the Delhi Government.
The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting held on March 22.
"The Cabinet noted with the concern that while the Delhi Government has limited housing for its officers and employees, there are many officers posted outside Delhi who are retaining Government houses in Delhi. Since the Delhi Government is facing an acute shortage of houses and since the Central Government is cadre controlling authority of IAS and DANICS officers, it was decided that matter be taken up with the Government of India to provide equivalent number of same category of Government houses to it in lieu of the Delhi government house occupied by IAS and DANICS posted in Government of India or other States/Union Territories by June 30, 2016 failing which the same rules shall apply to the officers posted out of Delhi as they apply to Ministers of Delhi when they demit office," the minutes of the Cabinet meeting said.
On the other hand, a senior Delhi Government officer who has been transferred recently said this reflects that the Delhi Government is still unhappy with IAS and DANICS as most of the officers are not keen to work with this Government.
"This is another way to harass the officers who refused to toe their line of politics. The families of officials resides reside in Delhi when they are posted outside Delhi. The erstwhile Sheila Dikshit Government in her 15 years' rule had never harassed officials," said the officer.
Another officer said the AAP Government is continuing its tirade against IAS and DANICS and now wants to vacate houses of those who have been relieved on March 7 as they were not in good book of the Government. It is noted that all those officers who were not in good book of the Delhi Government, including Shakuntala Gamlin and Anindo Majumdar, have been appointed chief secretary of Arunachal Pradesh and Andaman respectively.
On the other hand, sources in AAP Government said there is acute shortage of houses for officials. "There is no point of retaining Government accommodations if they are not posted in the State Government. If they are posted at Centre, then Centre should provide houses from Central pools. If they are in other States, then their cadre should ensure the housing from Centre pools as they are controlled by the MHA. If Ministers of Delhi Government vacate their houses within three months or six months, then why not this apply on IAS/DANICS when they are not posted in the State Government," AAP Government sources said.