Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 12: The Delhi government has got into yet another confrontational course against the Centre approaching the Supreme Court with a complaint that the Narendra Modi government was defying the constitutional bench’s order on the control of bureaucrats.
Within hours of the apex court’s verdict on Thursday asking the centre to stay off the day-to-day administration of the Delhi government, the chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had ordered the transfer of services secretary Ashish More.
But on Friday the Delhi government has approached Supreme Court alleging that the Centre was “defying” the constitutional bench order on the control over bureaucrats. The government alleged that the Centre was obstructing the transfer of More which they had ordered after the landmark judgment by the Supreme Court. The Delhi government also requested the apex court to initiate contempt of court proceedings against the Centre for “defying” the court’s order.
Justifying the delay in implementing the transfer order, sources in the central government said implementing the Supreme Court’s directions would need for the centre’s notification to be withdrawn. “To implement Supreme Court directions, notification issued by centre needs to be withdrawn. Then only new directives would set in,” a senior officer said, adding that Kejriwal appeared to be “in a hurry for no reason.”
“It’s a process which is being complied with, and it is being done. What is the hurry?” he said, requesting not to be named.
A Delhi government official, however, disagreed that the process had to be long-drawn. “Court orders are clear and the Home Ministry notification automatically becomes infructuous. There is a deliberate delay by the centre to implement the court’s order,” the officer said.
In a big win for the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court headed by the chief justice of India Y Chandrachud in a unanimous verdict on Thursday gave the Delhi assembly powers to legislate to represent the will of the people.
In a democratic form of governance, the real power of administration must rest on the elected arm of government, said the bench, adding that the central government’s power in matters in which both the Centre and states can legislate “is limited to ensure that the governance is not taken over by the Central government”.
Prior to the verdict of the court, the Services Department was under the control of Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor. Hours after the judgement, the Kejriwal government removed the Secretary of the Delhi government’s services department Ashish More. Former Delhi Jal Board CEO A K Singh, a 1995-batch (AGMUT cadre) IAS officer, was to replace More.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in a press conference, said there would be major administrative reshuffle in the government, warning of action against officers who “obstructed” public work. The BJP, however, had claimed that the Supreme Court verdict would help the AAP “open a transfer and posting industry” alleging corruption in making administrative changes.