Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung has ordered transfer of several senior officials engaged in flagship projects of the AAP government, prompting Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being "hell bent" to "destroy" Delhi.
This is the first major reshuffle by the Lt Governor in Public Works Department (PWD) and Environment and Health Departments following the Delhi High Court ruling that the Lt Governor is the administrative head of the national capital.
Jung has replaced Health secretary Tarun Seem with IAS officer Chandrakar Bharti while Ashwani Kumar has been appointed as new PWD Secretary in place of non-IAS cadre office Sarvagya Srivastava.
In the wake of the HC order that stamped the primacy of the LG in the city administration, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had requested Jung not to transfer Seem and Srivastava as they were handling flagship projects -- setting up of mohalla clinics and construction of new school buildings -- of the Kejriwal government.
"Today, several officers transferred by LG directly. Files not even shown to CM or any minister. Is this Modi model of democracy?... Manish Sisodia requested LG not to transfer these two officers looking after works of setting mohalla clinics and new schools till March 31, but he (LG) did not relent," Kejriwal tweeted.
Reacting strongly to the LG's order, Sisodia said that if quality of health and education deteriorates, Modi will be responsible as he is creating hurdles in the functioning of the AAP government.
"We have got to know that Modiji has asked LG on phone to transfer these two offices. Modi can go to any extent. If education and health quality deteriorates, Modiji will be responsible for this," he said.
In another order, Jung has created approving authorities for transfer and postings of officers of IAS, DANICS and DASS cadres, Principal private secretaries, suspending all previous orders of the AAP government.
In the order, Jung said the LG will be the approving authority for transfer and postings of IAS, DANICS, All India Service Officers, equivalent officers of central civil services. But for DASS Grade I/II, principal private secretary, senior personal assistant, the Chief Secretary will be the approving authority.
Besides, Secretary (Services) has been appointed as the approving authority for transfer and postings of DASS Grade III/IV and Grade II/III (Stenographer) while Administrative Secretary/Head of Department will look after transfers and postings of other employees of cadre/ex-cadre within the department concerned.
At a press conference at the Delhi Secretariat, Sisodia
also hit out at the Lt Governor, asking, "The High Court order was to take the progress of Delhi forward or impede the good work being done here?"
Alleging that Jung effected the transfer "at the behest of Prime Minister Modi", the Deputy Chief Minister asserted the "PM should not stop" the AAP government work.
"He (Modi) wants to obstruct the good work being done in Delhi in health and education sectors by us. He wants to ruin Delhi," he alleged.
"For the first-time, we had brought in non-IAS officers in these two departments (Heath and PWD) as secretaries, an honest engineer in the PWD department and a person from a medical background in the Health Department. And, they have been transferred at a time when they were doing good job," Sisodia told reporters.
He said, he had personally requested the Lt Governor to not transfer these two officers, who were looking after works of setting up mohalla clinics and new schools, but they could not even "spare these two".
"So, now, we will go to villages and cities and also appeal to media and people in general to tell that if there is any fall in quality in health and education services in Delhi, then Prime Minister Modiji will be responsible," he said.
Delhi government has opened about 105 mohalla clinics so far and has plans to expand it to 1,000. Also, it aims to build 8,000 new classrooms. "And, so, they could have not transferred these two secretaries, given the good work they were doing," he said.
Further training his guns on Modi, Sisodia said, former TRAI chairman Nripendra Misra was appointed as principal secretary to the Prime Minister and the Centre promulgated an ordinance amending the TRAI Act. But, when we just asked for two officers who do good work, they are transferred, he said.
