Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said he had ordered all government “functionaries” to expedite the work on the Aam Aadmi Party government’s proposals for home delivery of ration and installation of CCTV cameras across the city.
Hours after the Supreme Court’s Constitution Bench curtailed the powers of the Lieutenant-Governor while giving its judgement in the Delhi government vs. Union government case, Mr. Kejriwal called a Cabinet meeting. In a tweet before the meeting, Mr. Kejriwal said it had been called to discuss the important projects that had been “blocked” so far.
“Cabinet meeting held. Directed all functionaries of Del govt to function according to the order of Hon’ble SC. Also directed to expedite proposals of doorstep delivery of rations and CCTV now. [sic],” Mr. Kejriwal said in a tweet after the meeting.
Officers in attendance
The meeting, which was to start at 4 p.m., saw the participation of four senior officers: Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash, Principal Secretary (Finance) Renu Sharma, Principal Secretary (Home) Manoj Kumar Parida and Principal Secretary (Law) Anoop Kumar Mendiratta.
The four officers walked into the Cabinet room at 3.59 p.m., and left soon after at 4.07 p.m.
Later, addressing a press conference, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the officers had been asked to speed up the work on the two proposals. Mr. Sisodia said the L-G had been working on the directions of the Centre to interfere in the work of the government.
“Now, the Supreme Court has said that there is no need for the L-G’s concurrence on issues other than those on reserved subjects. The Cabinet will take a decision and it will be communicated to the L-G for his information,” Mr. Sisodia said.
The AAP dispensation has blamed Raj Niwas of stalling the doorstep delivery of ration, with it being one of the reasons for the Chief Minsiter’s dharna at Raj Niwas last month. Raj Niwas, however, had maintained the file was with the Food and Civil Supplies Minister.