Concerned over the ongoing crisis in administration functioning, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met lieutenant- Governor (l-G) Anil Baijal at his residence in Raj Niwas on Friday. In a short interaction of five minutes with l-G, Kejriwal said Delhi Government officers were not attending meetings for the past three days due to alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash by the two Aam Aadmi Party MlAs. "The l-G has promised to talk to officers and resolve issues," the Chief Minister said after the short meeting.
After the meeting, Kejriwal tweeted, "Officers not attending meetings for last 3 days. Governance suffering. I'm very concerned. The l-G assured he will take all steps to ensure officers started functioning normally. Council of Ministers assured him all cooperation. All of us need to work together for betterment of Delhi".
Terming the whole episode unfortunate Baijal said there was no place for violence in a democratic society and that the Government must take steps to rebuild the trust of its employees. The lG's comments came after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met him, along with his Cabinet colleagues, following a Delhi Police team arriving at the Chief Minister's residence and seizing a hard disk of the CCTV camera system installed there in connection with the alleged assault of the chief secretary by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MlAs.
Following the incident, the bureaucrats in the Delhi Government have boycotted the meetings called by Ministers. Baijal said no Government could fulfill its promises to the people if its employees felt "demoralised and insecure".
"The lt-Governor strongly condemned the incidents and termed them as most unfortunate. The lt-Governor noted that no Government can fulfil its promises to the people if the employees feel demoralised and insecure" an official statement issued by l-G office said.
"There is no place for violence in a democratic and civilised society. Steps need to be taken to remove the mistrust between the Government employees and the elected Government, so that the development of Delhi and public interest do not get adversely affected," an official statement from the l-G's office said.
After the interaction with Kejriwal and AAP representatives, l-G also tweeted, "Strongly condemn the recent unfortunate incidents. Advised elected Government to take steps to remove mistrust with govt. employees so that development of Delhi is not affected," he tweeted.
It may be recalled, on Tuesday, Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Praksh had alleged that he was beaten up by two AAP MlAs Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal, in the presence of CM , on Monday night at the Chief Minister's residence where he had been called for an emergency meeting.
In an interaction with reporters after the meeting with lG, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said, "lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal has assured Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal that he will speak to bureaucrats to ensure that the work of the Delhi Government is not affected."
Sisodia further said that governance has suffered as officials did not attend meetings and several meetings were cancelled and decisions deferred.
"We are grateful to the l-G that he is looking into the issue from the perspective of Delhi's governance," Sisodia told reporters after the meet between Kejriwal and l-G. "The l-G has assured that he will speak to the officials and ensure that work is not affected and work with ministers", he added.
When asked Sisodia whether the Chief Minister will apologise for the alleged assault, he replied, "police investigation was going on and the matter was pending before the court".
Following the incident, bureaucrats in Delhi Secretariat had declared that they would not meet or talk over phone to the Chief Minister, his ministers or MlAs till Kejriwal apologises for the alleged assault. Delhi government employees across the city have also been observing a five-minute silence outside their respective offices every day as a mark of protest.