The Delhi Government’s overzealous attempt to ‘cleanse’ the system by introducing its version of lokpal Bill has sent the Delhi bureaucracy into a tizzy. Fearing the blame on their head for any delay or inaction, bureaucratic heads of all the Delhi Government departments have raised strong objections to the Delhi lokpal Bill draft and many of them have expressed their desire to leave the State Government saying the AAP Government has no faith in bureaucrats. According to top sources, most of bureaucrats have forwarded their request to the Home Ministry looking for postings outside the national Capital. “While some of them are on their way out, most of them have sent their requests,” confirmed sources said.
At a weekly meeting with Chief Secretary SK Srivastava, Principal Secretaries and Secretaries of Delhi Government have raised strong objections to the lokpal Bill draft saying this is a draconian Bill and many of its provisions were in contravention to the existing laws, IPC and CrPC. A standoff between the bureaucracy and the legislature over lokpal Bill 2014 forced the Delhi Government defer the Bill till Monday. According to sources, Principal Secretary (Home) Archna Arora raised the issue before Chief Secretary meeting, saying that powers of investigation, prosecution and judge can not be vested in the same person. “The present form of Bill is impractical and this would only create hurdles in smooth functioning of bureaucracy. The Government has no trust on the bureaucracy,” she reportedly stated in the meeting.
A senior bureaucrat said on the condition of anonymity that Kejriwal Government does not trust on bureaucracy and it would become impossible to work under such a system. “Just like the Anti-Dowry Act, the burden of proof in the corruption cases would now be on the accused,” he said. For instance, sources said, that the police officer handpicked by Kejriwal to head Delhi’s anti-corruption unit refused to take up the job, and “thought it wise to opt for a long distance posting rather to be a mean officer confined in Delhi”.
Praveer Ranjan a 1993-batch IPS, from the AGMUT cadre was chosen by Kejriwal to head the Anti-corruption unit to which he agreed but soon after few days, perhaps looking at the modus operandi and regular threats by the AAP leaders to tame corruption in a “different style” (like stings etc) Ranjan requested the Union Home Ministry to relieve him from the Delhi Police. He has chosen to move to Puducherry as inspector general of police now. The ministry accepted the request following which many other top Delhi bureaucrats have sounded an alarm bell amongst their elite community.
“The situation is not conducive and even honest officials may face the music. Who knows who will be trapped, filmed and edited topically to mark a blemish in the career,” said a top official who also has made similar request to Home Ministry.
“Suppose, lokpal pass an order on a complaint to demolish all illegal farmhouses of south Delhi within 30 days. Will it be possible to demolish all unauthorised farmhousesIJ If public authority fails, a penalty of Rs50,000 to be imposed or the amount to be deducted from his salary,” said a senior officer of Delhi Government.