A day after he launched a scathing attack on the Narendra Modi-led (BJP) Centre for “not being allowed to work”, the Delhi Congress took on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for crying wolf to mask his “under-achieving government’s failures”.
The party’s Delhi chief Ajay Maken attempted to checkmate Mr. Kejriwal by questioning why his government had decided to stay away from a significant meeting where the decision to transfer two bureaucrats at the helm of its Value Added Tax (VAT) and education regimes were taken. Mr. Maken also questioned why Kejriwal was attempting to dent a bureaucratic system that has, so far, governed the transfers and postings of officials across the AGMU cadre.
“Isn’t an attempt to inject political interference in bureaucratic functioning a form of corruption? There is a pattern to all these instances where the Chief Minister has cried foul in relation to the appointment of officials; all one needs to do is look closely,” Mr. Maken said.
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He added, “The Delhi government is already suffering from a governance paralysis with its bureaucrats living under constant threat and lack of independence; it is Mr. Kejriwal who is not allowing them to work and these allegations are just attempts to mask the resulting under-achievement and non-performance of his government.”
According to a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) source, the decision to transfer Commissioner of the VAT department Vijay Kumar and Director of Education Padmini Singla out of the Delhi was taken at a meeting of the Joint Cadre (review) committee, which was boycotted by the government on July 23 with orders issued a day later.
The Delhi government had chosen to stay away from the meeting in reaction to being told that Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who had sought permission to attend it, could not do so because he was a political representative and it would set a “dangerous precedent”.
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Instead of blaming the Central Government, Mr. Maken said, the AAP Government needed to “own up the blame” for the transfer as no representative of the Delhi Government attended the meeting held on July 24.
“The Joint Cadre Controlling Authority (JCCA) is an administrative set-up of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers and therefore, the Delhi Government can be represented only by its Chief Secretary. The government is governed by rules and norms which cannot be changed to suit the convenience of Mr. Kejriwal,” said Mr. Maken.
“Mr. Kejriwal’s Government is deliberately boycotting meetings where such decisions are taken to create an image of being wronged,” he added.