‘CM’s consent had not been taken’

The removal of 10 people appointed in advisory roles to the Capital’s Ministers, government sources claimed, gradually picked up pace over a year and followed the procedural examination of the appointment of a senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader as an adviser to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

‘No consultations done’

Moreover, government sources claimed, a scrutiny of appointments to such posts by the General Administration Department (GAD), which followed later, revealed not only that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) or the Lieutenant-Governor were not consulted prior to affecting these, but also that the Chief Minister’s sanction had not been taken “in many cases” with the appointments being made by the “office of the GAD Minister superseding competent authorities”.

Government sources told The Hindu that the matter gathered pace after Ashish Khetan, vice-chairman of the Delhi Dialogue Commission (DDC), an advisory body mandated with advising the Delhi government which has since be rechristened the Dialogue and Development Commission of Delhi, was sought to be appointed as adviser to Mr. Kejriwal.

Mr. Khetan’s proposed appointment to his new office in late June 2017, which followed the resignation of Ashish Talwar from the post after the AAP’s performance in the civic polls in May last year, was, government sources said, referred to the MHA for sanction in light of the August, 2016 Delhi High Court judgment in relation to separation of powers between the elected government and the office of the L-G.

Government sources said, the MHA, in addition to informing it that “posts such as OSD and Adviser do not exist as per Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) rules” which only entitle Union Ministers to make such appointments after the MHA’s prior sanction, directed the GAD not only to disallow Mr. Khetan’s appointment as adviser to Mr. Kejriwal but also to examine the appointments of other people on similar posts revealing that “the GAD Minister had signed off on them even without the approval of the Chief Minister’s Office”.