Lt Governor Najeeb Jung has directed Delhi Chief Secretary K K Sharma to restore the full salary of two senior DANICS officers of Delhi government's Home department who were suspended for allegedly defying AAP government's order.
The LG's move comes after the Arvind Kejriwal government had deducted half of the salary for February of two special secretaries Yashpal Garg and Subhash Chandra - Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service (DANICS) officers, who were suspended for allegedly defying a cabinet order.
Union Home Ministry had revoked the suspension order of the two officers by the Arvind Kejriwal government.
"The LG has directed the Chief Secretary to restore the full salary of Garg and Chandra as the Home Ministry has already declared as null and void their suspension order by the AAP government," sources said.
In January, 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 the Chief Secretary in January, the Lt Governor had directed him to ensure full compliance with the Home Ministry's directive and declared that the 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).
The suspension of the officers had led to a major protest by bureaucrats as around 200 DANICS officers had gone on a day-long mass leave on December 31. The IAS officers had also worked half-day that day.
