Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia at a function in New Delhi. (Express photo by Anil Sharma/Files)
Appointments of 10 advisors to Delhi government ministers were cancelled because, as per legal opinion, proper procedures had not been followed in the whole exercise, Union home ministry officials said. There were other “lapses” too in the exercise, they said. Lt Governor Anil Baijal had sent a reference on appointments of the 10 advisors a few months ago and sought the home ministry’s direction on the issue.
“After receiving the reference from the L-G, the Home Ministry sought legal opinion, which said proper procedure had not been followed and there were lapses while appointing the advisors,” an official said. Following this, the directive has been issued for cancellation of the appointments.
Another official said the Delhi government appointed the 10 advisors without creating the posts. The 10 advisors whose appointments were cancelled include Amardeep Tiwari (media advisor to law minister Kailash Gahlot), Arunoday Prakash (media advisor to Deputy CM Manish Sisodia), Raghav Chadha (advisor to the finance minister), Atishi Marlena (advisor to the Deputy CM).