The tussle between lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung and the AAP Government refuses to end. Taking a serious note of the Arvind Kejriwal Government’s decision to reiterate its earlier Cabinet approval to revise pay scale of Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Services (DANICS) officers, the l-G has once again refused to accept it.
The l-G has for the second occasion referred the matter to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which had earlier expressed its displeasure over the State administration’s decision to grant time-bound pay scales to DANICS officers by declaring it as “ultra vires.”
Undeterred by the MHA’s rejection on the pay-scale issue, the Arvind Kejriwal Government had for the second time got these hikes approved by its Cabinet. It was on August 11 that the city Government had raked controversy by ordering that pay scales of DANICS officers be revised after they complete 13, 18 and 21 years of service which was not the case earlier.
The Kejriwal Government’s order on the revised pay scale had also raised concerns over the fate of the DANICS officers serving in lakshwdeep, Anandaman and Daman-Diu as they too had raised a demand that their pay packages be made on lines of the Delhi administration. After Delhi Government revision, the officials of Central Secretariat Services (CSS) at Central Government are putting pressure on the centre to bring their salary at par with Delhi Government’s DANICS officers.
A section of bureaucrats in the Union home ministry fear that if the revised pay scale of DANICS was accepted, it would force it to effect similar changes in the financial packages of the Officers of the Central Secretariat Services as well. Besides, IAS officials are also opposed the move saying that the Delhi Government has no power to revise the pay scale of DANICS.
The MHA, in its communication to Delhi chief secretary K K Sharma, had asserted that it was the “competent authority to make any amendments in the DANICS Rules” and the State Government had not sought its approval.
“The prescribed procedure had not been followed and the approval of the competent authority has not been obtained. As such, it has become ultra vires,” a letter issued by the Union home had said. “Further, the proposal relating to creation of all posts carrying Grade Pay of Rs 10,000 in Pay Band - 4 and above are required to be brought before the union cabinet,” the letter added.
DANICS’ officers are deputed to serve the middle level and senior level administration of the Delhi Government as well as union territories like Andaman and Nicobar Islands,lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
According to officials, DANICS officers were eligible for promotion to the Indian Administrative Service after completing eight years of continuous service but this actually been taking on an average of 27-28 years.