As SC decides to take call on ‘services’ boss, L-G shifts 3

On a day the Delhi Government knocked at the door of the Supreme Court to seek clarification on matter related to control of the Services department, the L-G transferred three key IAS officers to assert his supremacy in the domain.

The transfer orders came even as the Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed on the City Government appeal to hear next week appeals of the Delhi Government relating to the scope of its various powers, including Services department.

According to the L-G order, Soumya Gupta has been replaced by Sanjay Goyal as Education Department Director. Similarly, Chanchal Yadav, who served as SDMC’s Deputy Commissioner, has been shifted as Special Secretary to the L-G. Vasanthakumar N has been made Special Commissioner (Trade and Taxes).

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia slammed the move as “bossing around” by the L-G.

“L-G has kept the ‘services department’ with him arbitrarily and is bossing around. He should have consulted us before appointing the education director. The Delhi Government is spending 26 per cent of its budget on education and we are not even consulted on the issue,” Sisodia told reporters.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had on Monday written to Baijal wondering how he can be “selective” in accepting the SC judgment on power tussle between the Delhi Government and the Centre.

On Tuesday, Delhi Government counsel Rahul Mehra sought urgent hearing of the services matter before a Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra. The CJI allowed the prayer and listed it for hearing next week.

Later in the day, Union Home Secretary convened a meeting with the L-G and Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash that went on for half an hour. The meeting discussed issues related to services in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling on the division of powers in Delhi. It is believed that discussions were held on the possible legal strategy to be adopted in the hearing before the apex court next week.

Baijal refused to divulge the details of the meeting. When insisted on whether the issue of services was discussed at the meeting, the L-G said, “All is well between me and Kejriwal”. A day ago, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote to the L-G wondering how he is “selective” about accepting the Supreme Court judgment.

Meanwhile, another Bench of the apex court took a swipe at the ongoing power tussle by asking the Delhi Government to explain whether it is the Chief Minister or the L-G who has the last word on managing the solid waste in the city.

As the Kejriwal Government sought to shift the blame at the Centre over the mounting garbage dumps posing a health hazard to the citizens, a Bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta wanted to know who is responsible for managing solid waste.

Seeking an affidavit from the Delhi Government by Wednesday, the Bench said, “We now have the advantage of a verdict. There is mountain load of garbage in Delhi, particularly in Bhalswa, Okhla and Ghazipur. We would like to know who is responsible for clearing the garbage - those answerable to the L-G or those answerable to the Chief Minister.”

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Pinky Anand of the Centre pointed fingers at the Delhi Government following which the court asked the Kejriwal Government to explain. The next hearing in the case will take place on Thursday.

The court also fined 10 States and two Union Territories with varying amounts of Rs 1 lakh and Rs 2 lakh for failing to disclose policies for solid waste management. The apathy of States and UTs to address this issue had forced court to take a proactive role suo motu in a PIL proceeding.