Aam Aadmi Party MlAs kept on attacking bureaucrats in the Delhi Assembly, following which Speaker Ram Niwas Goel ordered the Assembly’s Privilege Committee to look into the matter related to Revenue Secretary Manisha Saxena’s recent interview to a Hindi daily, in which she allegedly said a mob attacked the principal and teachers of a Government school for scolding a student in Narela area on February 21.
However, speaking on the issue, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia termed Saxena's remarks imaginary and said such an incident never actually happened.
Besides the privilege committee, Goel also sent Saxena's matter to the question and reference committee following a demand by AAP MlA Sourabh Bharadwaj. Goel also referred four matters involving the officers to the question and reference committee.
Sexena, a 1996-batch IAS officer, was present in the Officers' Gallery of the House after a direction issued from the speaker.
During the Question Hour, AAP legislators sought action against a section of officers for not replying properly to questions asked by them. “Bureaucrats gave incomplete written answers to the ministers concerned, who then presented them in the Assembly,” they said.
AAP MlA Rakhi Birla, referring to a question asked by her, said the officer who gave the answer was misleading the Assembly by giving a false reply.
AAP's Okhla MlA Amanattullah Khan objected to the presence of IAS officers in the House along with Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash and sought a discussion on it and the speaker agreed to allow time for discussion.
The AAP dispensation and the bureaucrats have been at loggerheads over a range of issues. Following an alleged attack on Prakash by some AAP MlAs at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence last month, the officers have been boycotting meetings with the ministers.