The Delhi High Court on Tuesday told Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash that he is “adequately protected” against any punishment by a Delhi Assembly committee, which has sought his presence and asked him to appear before the panel.
Justice Vibhu Bakhru said his order of July 13 was “expressly clear” that the bureaucrat has to participate in the proceedings before the Assembly’s Committee of Privileges (CoP) and if any punishment was imposed on him, it would not be implemented till his plea against the panel’s notice to him was decided.
The court’s observation came on an application moved by Mr. Prakash seeking clarification of its July 13 order asking him to appear before the panel, which issued a notice to him on a complaint by the Question and Reference (Q&R) Committee of the Assembly.
The applicant also raised the apprehension that one of the members of the CoP was biased against him, but the court allayed his fears by saying that the proceedings would be video recorded.
Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Mr. Prakash, alleged that the chairperson of the CoP was “biased” against and “hostile” towards his client. He said a senior bureaucrat cannot be treated in this manner.
‘No prejudice caused’
The High Court, however, said “no prejudice is being caused to you [the Chief Secretary] by appearance [before the panel]”.
On July 13, while asking Mr. Prakash and two other bureaucrats to appear before the committee, the High Court had warned them that not doing so would invite contempt action. The direction had come after the court was informed that the three officers were neither appearing before the panels, nor giving the information sought from them.
The lawyers for the Assembly and the Speaker of the House had alleged that the officers were taking advantage of the court’s earlier order restraining the authorities from taking action against them.
The Chief Secretary was earlier served a notice by the Privileges Committee for skipping a meeting on February 20, which was scheduled a day after he was allegedly assaulted by AAP MLAs at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence.
The three officers had been called by the Q&R Committee regarding irregularities in the Delhi Nagrik Sahkari Bank Ltd.