Days after the Centre wrested back control of the Services Department through an ordinance, Special Secretary (Vigilance) Y.V.V.J. Rajasekhar, who was earlier divested of his duties by the AAP government, was on Monday reinstated. His office has also been de-sealed.
An order dated May 22 from the office of Secretary (Vigilance) said Mr. Rajasekhar will resume work “as usual”. The order also asked all Assistant Directors of the department “to maintain the status as on May 10 with respect to workflow”. This was the first major Services-related order since the ordinance was brought in on May 19.
Soon after the order from the Services Secretary, Mr. Rajasekhar directed two Assistant Directors to prepare the inventory of files in his office along with the number of pages in them. “The inventory should be prepared today itself and the same should be reconciled,” he said in his order.
Mr. Rajasekhar, apart from looking into the allegations of irregularities related to the renovation of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s official residence, was also probing other cases, including the alleged irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, the ‘feedback unit’ case and the alleged violation in publishing government advertisements.
Major controversy
Two days after the Supreme Court’s May 11 judgment handing over the reins of Services to the elected government, Delhi Services Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj had issued an order divesting Mr. Rajasekhar of his duties, citing alleged complaints against him for “running an extortion racket”. His office was sealed on May 17 after being allegedly searched on the intervening night of May 15-16. Mr. Rajasekhar had alleged that some files or records “might have been destroyed” during the alleged search.
The move had stirred a major controversy with Mr. Rajasekhar and other IAS officers accusing the AAP dispensation of “harassment”. The government, however, termed the allegations as “absolutely fake”.
The Centre reversed the SC order through the ordinance, forming a National Capital Civil Service Authority (NCCSA), headed by the Chief Minister and comprising the Chief Secretary and the Principal Home Secretary of Delhi as members, to decide by majority vote the transfer, posting and vigilance matters of all Group A officers and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (Civil) Services officers, with the Lieutenant-Governor having the final say.
