Appointment of MLAs as parliamentary secys to ministers, party volunteers in ministries attract flak
Though city bureaucrats say the stand-off between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and Lt Governor Najeeb Jung's office might get resolved after Tuesday's meeting between Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and President Pranab Mukherjee, they feel the entire confrontation has set a dangerous precedent.
Some officials even suggested that a mechanism to put in place a 'parallel or political bureaucracy' favouring the 'Aam Aadmi Party agenda' has already gained momentum.
The AAP government, in March, had appointed 21 MLAs as parliamentary secretaries to each cabinet minister to "fast-track work". But an RTI query revealed that the government was not aware of the law under which they were appointed and merely acted on a 'note' from chief minister's office.
According to the RTI reply, these MLAs were not receiving any remuneration or perk as parliamentary secretaries – meaning no burden on exchequer.
The AAP government had also attached quite a sizable number of party volunteers with ministers to 'assist' them. "While some volunteers attended phone calls, others released information about ministers' schedule and so on. This was not there during the previous government's regime," said a former bureaucrat. The Delhi Dialogue Commission, he said, was "yet another example" of empowering the party along with the government.
Parties, especially the Congress and the BJP, see the confrontation as not just disempowering bureaucrats. They say it's about AAP asserting its might as well as the looming threat of governance issues.
"Electricity tariffs are about to be hiked. People will ask questions and it will be a matter of time before the AAP government blames the Centre, which, they allege, is trying to rule Delhi through the office of the LG. It was never about which bureaucrat is good or bad," said a senior Congress leader.
Delhi government spokesperson Nagender Sharma said that the AAP regime had not recommended any of the six bureaucrats, whose names were sent to the LG's office, to the chief secretary's (CS) post.
"Reports that we wanted Parimal Rai as acing CS were wrong. All that we wanted was adherence to constitutional procedures.. AAP has the mandate of the people to govern Delhi without any negative interference," he said.
Naini Shilan, SP Singh, Arvind Ray, Shakuntala Gamlin. Parimal Rai and S N Sahay were the six.
Another government official told dna that while Shilan and Rai opted out of being the acting CS, Sahay was not the ideal choice, being the juniormost. Singh and Ray, according to Sharma, were not a choice by both the LG as well as the CM's office.
Ray was on Tuesday appointed as principal secretary (general administration), bypassing Jung's order removing Anindo Mukherjee from the same post as void.
"No matter what the outcome of confrontation is, it will be a win-win situation for the AAP government. If they are asked to budge, they can always claim to be martyrs, and if the LG's office decides to take a step back, AAP will consider it as a political victory," added the Congress leader.
A former power ministry official, however, says, in the end, it's the bureaucrats who are going to suffer the most. AAP has shunted several top bureaucrats in its first three months. "Hopefully, this storm will be followed by calm," he said.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}