Delhi government has deducted half of salary of two senior DANICS officers working with its Home Department as they were suspended for defying a Cabinet order, a move which may trigger another round of confrontation between the AAP dispensation and the Centre.
The Union Home Ministry had revoked the suspension order.
On January 27, Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain had issued an order saying special secretaries Yashpal Garg and Subhash Chandra would only be entitled to a subsistence allowance instead of their full salary as they had been suspended by the Delhi government for allegedly defying a Cabinet order.
"The government has deducted the salary of Garg and Chandra by half for the month of February," sources said.
On January 29, Lt Governor Najeeb Jung had declared "illegal" the AAP government's order to slash the salary of two special secretaries in the Home Department.
In a letter to Chief Secretary K K Sharma, the Lt Governor had directed him to ensure full compliance with the Home Ministry's directive and declared that Jain's order to pay the two officials only subsistence allowance has no legal sanctity.
"The direction of the Ministry of Home Affairs makes it abundantly clear that no adverse action can be initiated against these officers based on the suspension orders since these orders were without authority of law, void ab initio and non est (does not exist).
"Therefore, the order dated January 27 issued by the Minister of Home, Delhi government has no legal sanctity and cannot be implemented," the LG had said.
The suspension of the officers had led to a major protest by bureaucrats as around 200 DANICS (Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service) officers had gone on a day-long mass leave on December 31. The IAS officers had also worked half-day that day.
