NEW DELHI: The AAP government has in its white paper on the LG’s performance raked up its ongoing tussle with the bureaucracy to attack Anil
Baijal. It has alleged that the LG’s inaction on the strike by officers indicates his support for the same.
The
report asserts that “for the first time in independent India, officers have gone on strike where they are not attending meetings called by the minister-in-charge, not answering phone calls or WhatsApp messages”.
The report prepared by the political executive was tabled in the Delhi
assembly by deputy CM Manish Sisodia. While there is no mention of the alleged attack on chief secretary Anshu Prakash, the government has given a timeline of the developments since the officers’ protest began to blame the
LG since ‘services’ comes under his jurisdiction.
The report comes with a generous sprinkling of projects, instances and examples that drive home the uneasy equation the elected government has with the LG and the bureaucracy. The officers have boycotted any verbal interaction with the political executive and have maintained written communication only. The CM has so far been silent on the demand for apology by the officers.
In the report, ‘officers’ strike’ figures as a ‘project’ and its file description says “IAS and DANICS officers of Delhi have been on strike since February 20, 2018”. Next, it is pointed out that on February 26, Sisodia wrote to Baijal about how senior officers were refusing to attend meetings called by ministers in violation of IAS conduct rules. Sisodia requested the LG to ensure that officers start attending meetings, it is stated in the report. But the context of the protest is not there in the report.
It is further pointed out that on February 27, the LG wrote to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying, “… as far as I know, there has not been any strike by any section of the bureaucracy.” On February 28, Sisodia wrote to the LG again to say that his letter seemed to be encouraging IAS officers to stay away from meetings of ministers.
On the section on action taken by the LG, the report says “no action has been taken by the LG despite gross violation of conduct rules by officers”.
“The lack of any action against officers for violation of service rules seems to indicate that the officers’ strike is supported by the LG,” the paper states.
Then there is a sub-head titled ‘Request for change of director DIP’. This controversial tussle, too, is captured through the government’s account of file movement. “Due to the incompetence of the DIP during crucial campaigns, the deputy CM wrote several letters to LG asking for a change in the director DIP,” it says.
On June 7, 2017, Sisodia wrote to the LG regarding the “non-cooperation” of the director. He cited instances of non-cooperation over organising a Facebook live to interact directly with Delhi’s traders regarding implementation of GST, design a media campaign to publicise the new minimum wages, and publicise the Class 12 results of children studying in Delhi government schools.
“LG was requested to find a suitable replacement for the officer concerned. On June 13, 2017, the deputy CM wrote another letter about the difficulty he was facing in the release of advertisement campaigns on awareness about dengue and chikunguniya, and also the education loan scheme. On June 16, Sisodia wrote again expressing his anguish over the fact that the awareness campaign about mosquito-borne diseases was not being put out by the department,” the report says, adding that there was no response from LG.
