Shoots off terse letter to CM, annuls appointments made by Delhi Govt
Cancelling all appointments made by the Delhi Government in the last four days, Delhi lt Governor Najeeb Jung on Wednesday made an attempt to consolidate his position as the “sole authority” in ‘service’ matters. In a strongly-worded letter written to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Jung wrote that the service matters fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the l-G and neither the legislative Assembly nor the Council of Ministers headed by the Chief Minister has any power or jurisdiction in these matters.
“On ‘Service’ matters as well as on matters of ‘Public Order’, ‘Police’ and ‘land’, the lt-Governor is the exclusive authority as delegate of the Hon’ble President of India,” Jung wrote to Kejriwal. Referring to the Deputy Chief Minister’s order dated May 15 regarding the business within the Services Department pertaining to transfer, posting, conditions of services etc of bureaucrats, Jung said, “As the Constitution does not give any powers to the Council of Ministers or the Chief Minister to take decisions on matters of ‘Services’, the order of the Deputy Chief Minister is ab initio void being unconstitutional… The position regarding transfer, posting and conditions of services of officers and officials of IAS, DANICS and DASS cadre, which existed prior to the order dated May 15, shall prevail.”
The letter also said that Rule 15 and 16 of the Transaction of Business of Government of NCT of Delhi Rules, 1993, as quoted in the order by the Deputy CM, was out of context as the “Rules cannot overrule the Constitutional Provisions”, which give exclusive powers to the lt-Governor to act on such matters. In another letter in response to May 18 order by the Deputy CM assigning additional charges of Secretary (Services) and Secretary (GAD) to Rajendra Kumar, relieving Anindo Majumdar of all charges, Jung wrote to the PM that the said order “was not in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and also completely without any jurisdiction”.
“Moreover, without making any reference to the lt-Governor, the order was issued which is totally unconstitutional,” wrote Jung. The appointment of Shakuntala Gamlin as acting Chief Secretary last week had triggered a full-blown war between the AAP Government and Jung with Kejriwal alleging that the lG was trying to take over the administration.