In a fresh round of tussle between the bureaucracy and the Kejriwal Government, the Directorate of Vigilance (DoV) issued a show cause notice to Chief Minister Arving Kejriwal’s personal secretary (PS) Bibhav Kumar, stating that his engagement is “illegal” and citing a pending criminal case against him. The case pertains to Kumar allegedly obstructing a public servant from discharging his duty and abusing/threatening him. The case against Kumar was lodged in 2007 in Noida.
“Kumar is hereby directed to provide within a weeks’ time from the date of issuance of this notice about the status of the above mentioned criminal case and as to why his engagement shall not be terminated on expiry of one month from the date of issuance of this notice, on account of the such pending criminal case before the Court of Law in light of violation of above mentioned DoPT’s instructions,”the DoV said in the notice.
Terming his engagement illegal as personal secretary (PS), the DoV said Kumar was appointed by the government subject to the outcome of an FIR against him under Sections 353 (assault to deter public servant), 504 (insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and 506 (intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code that is grave in nature and gross violation of the instructions issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and his appointment was not cleared from a vigilance angle.
The DoV said the initial engagement of Kumar is void-ab-initio and not in conformity with the extant rules as his engagement is to be governed as per the instructions issued by the DoPT,which were not apprised by the General Administrative Department (GAD) to the then Lt. Governor while putting up the proposal for approval of his engagement in 2022.
“ The services of Bibhav Kumar is to liable to be terminated as per the provisions of the Central Civil Services (Temporary Service) Rules, and Rule 5 of the said Rules which provides that engagement of a temporary government servant can be terminated from service by serving a notice in writing of one month prior to termination or it can be terminated forthwith after putting an entitled claim equivalent to amount of his pay for the purpose of his notice,” reads the notice.
“Accordingly, it is requested that all the Ministries/Departmentsmay strictly comply with the directions issued by the Prime Minister's Office in this regard. This Department will not entertain any request for ante-dating of appointment of non-government officials in the personal staff of Ministers in future,” the notice said.
The DoV added that the continuation of service of Kumar, who has a history of “criminal antecedents”, is in “gross violation” of the instructions issued “from time to time” by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
The notice also said that the Enforcement Directorate had called Kumar in February in connection with the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam.