Armed With Court Order, Arvind Kejriwal Reassigns 9 Bureaucrats
NEW DELHI: Its confidence renewed by a court order, Arvind Kejriwal’s government has transferred or reassigned nine bureaucrats, a reward for their out-of-the-box suggestions to improve the supply of water and power in what’s turning out to be a scorcher of a summer.
The Delhi High Court yesterday came down heavily on the side of Mr Kejriwal who has been in combat with the central government over his powers. The court describe as “suspect” a notification issued last week by the Centre marking out a limited area of operation for the Chief Minister.
Mr Kejriwal declared the verdict a “huge embarrassment” for the Centre, which is today reportedly consulting with Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi on how to proceed.
Mr Kejriwal, who won a spectacular victory in February’s election, says that the Centre is trying to run Delhi through Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, who had announced that the appointment of bureaucrats was his sole prerogative. The Centre endorsed that stand heartily in the notification now tagged as questionable by the Delhi High Court.
The Lieutenant Governor said last week that any postings of bureaucrats directed by the Chief Minister are invalid. For its part, Mr Kejriwal’s government, in a move that amounted to a Public Relations disaster, had a bureaucrat selected by the Lieutenant Governor locked out of his office.
At a public meeting called in a park in the heart of Delhi yesterday, Mr Kejriwal, flanked by his cabinet, vowed that he would “limit the powers of the Centre in this term.”
The clash between the Centre and Mr Kejriwal has led to his raising the need for Delhi to be turned into a full state; currently, it is a union territory, with the centre in charge of key departments like the Police and Land.
