On Tuesday, both Kejriwal and Jung visited the Rashtrapati Bhavan, separately, and put forward their views on the administrative altercation that has engulfed the capital, with bureaucrats caught in the crossfire.
The political overtones of the slugfest were evident with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley mincing no words while commenting on this. “The people of Delhi experimented with a new party, but it is a very costly experiment because governance is not their political agenda.”
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Kejriwal, on the other hand, has time and again claimed that Jung has been acting at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government.
The Delhi chief minister was seeking an appointment with the President since Saturday. But the L-G made it a point to meet him before Kejriwal, to apprise him of the “Constitutional crisis-like situation in Delhi”.
After meeting the President, he met Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who accompanied Kejriwal to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, told reporters that the L-G was acting as if Delhi was still under President’s rule.
“The L-G is acting as if there is no elected government here,” he said. “Despite having a democratically elected government, he is bypassing the chief minister and ministers and issuing instructions to officers. He is even threatening them with transfers if they do not follow his orders. It is not good for democracy.”
Sisodia also said: “We told the President that we accepted the L-G’s decision to appoint acting chief secretaries even without consulting us. But even after that, he has been appointing officers bypassing the elected government. He is even interfering in the appointments of secretaries and directly ordering them.”
The power struggle became apparent since Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) formed the government and escalated with Jung appointing Shakuntala Gamlin as the “acting chief secretary”. Gamlin took charge despite the chief minister instructing her not to.
Things took a turn for the worse as the government removed Anindo Majumdar, the officer who issued Gamlin the appointment letter, and the lieutenant governor promptly declared the chief minister’s order “void.”
The duel was enacted in full public glare with letters being released and press releases issued by both sides. On Monday, Majumdar was locked out of his office in the Delhi Secretariat.
Jung has claimed that he has been acting according to the Constitution, which gives him the right to appoint and transfer bureaucrats. The government and AAP, on the other hand, have slammed him for acting “unconstitutionally”.
Delhi is under the administrative control of the central Home ministry.
Kejriwal’s government, too, has displayed defiance. Despite Jung rejecting the chief minister’s orders appointing Rajender Kumar as secretary, services, and claiming that Majumdar continues to hold the post, Kumar has been the de facto in charge at the Secretariat.
On Tuesday, the government appointed Arvind Ray as principal secretary, general administration department, bypassing Jung.
Both camps are seeking legal opinion on the present crisis and experts, too, seem undecided about it.
Senior advocates Rajeev Dhavan and Indira Jaisingh are of the opinion that the government in the right while constitutional expert Subhash Kashyap holds a contrary view — that the L-G was acting within his powers.
The home ministry, too, has also sought the opinion of the attorney-general on the responsibilities and duties of the lieutenant governor.
Civil servants who are facing the brunt of the ongoing tussle are on tenterhooks.
At least a dozen senior officers working with the Delhi government have reportedly approached the home ministry to get postings outside. These include officers of both Indian Administrative Service and Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Service cadre.