New Delhi: Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar on Monday became the latest civil servant to be summoned by the Assembly’s Committee on Petitions. Such panels have come under the spotlight,
opposition leaders say Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government is misusing it powers of assembly committees, while the capital’s ruling party claims panels are looking into alleged irregularities.
The Delhi Legislative Assembly has more than 20 panels consisting of MLAs that are constituted either by the Speaker or the House. These are recommendatory bodies that deal with aspects related to finance, public grievances and welfare of Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
“We call them mini-legislatures, because the work of the House is divided between latter “There is no time to assess various aspects in detail,” a senior Delhi government official told ThePrint.
committee on petitions Pertains to representations from the public, which are sent by various legislators to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly – who decides whether the committee can consider the matters or not.
Kumar is not the only officer to be summoned by an assembly panel since May 19, when The central government promulgated its ordinance for Delhi – which, in effect, negates a Supreme Court ruling that the government has control over bureaucrats in the administration of services.
Last week itself, the petition committee had summoned former service secretary Ashish More (removed from the post last month) and divisional commissioner Ashwini Kumar on a complaint alleging irregularities in land transfer.
Simultaneously, the Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes summoned YVVJ Rajasekhar, Special Secretary, Vigilance, who is currently Clash with the Aam Aadmi Party government Rajasekhar was called on 6 June on a complaint that the officer had made casteist remarks against a man – a charge the officer has challenged with a police complaint.
The officer is part of the vigilance department’s probe into alleged irregularities in the now-cancelled Excise Policy (2021-22) and renovation of the chief minister’s official residence, among other matters.
Raising doubts about the powers of the committees, the opposition BJP and senior government officials said the panels have gone too far on matters that are not in their purview, such as “day-to-day administrative matters”.
A senior Delhi government official said that even though the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021, bars committees from examining day-to-day administrative matters, there is a loophole in the interpretation of the rules.
“The speaker decides on how the committees are constituted and the matters to be considered by them. The problem is that nobody has defined ‘day-to-day administrative decision’, and that is a loophole,” the senior official said.
The officer said, “If an officer does not appear before the assembly committee, he can send his report to the house. The house can then summon the officer or pass a resolution to decide on the action to be taken.” Is.
Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel told ThePrint that “ever since” the central government promulgated the GNCTD (Amendment) Ordinance, officers have stopped appearing before committees as the ordinance gives them “more powers” and the Lieutenant Governor (LG) ) gives overriding authority to ).
Reached for comment, an official at the LG House said the 2021 amendment clearly states that matters of day-to-day administration cannot be considered by the panel, while there is nothing that the panel can do in its own right. Taking up matters outside the jurisdiction.
dispute over rules
There has also been controversy over the officials’ failure to appear before the committee. according to a report by HinduIn March, an ambulance was sent to examine Bhagwan Singh, the then secretary of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), after he failed to appear before the Committee on Petitions citing health reasons.
before thisAfter the panel earlier directed officials to report any violation of rules, the LG and the Speaker engaged in a war of words. The speaker called it an attempt to interfere in the functioning of the assembly.
Speaking to ThePrint, MCD officials said event is included civic body The secretaries were an example of violations that the LG had directed to be flagged.
The BJP has repeatedly questioned the issue of summons to bureaucrats. Delhi unit chief Virendra Sachdeva alleged that the government was misusing the panel to settle scores with officials with whom they are at loggerheads.
“These include officers who are probing corruption cases like the excise scam [allegations that the AAP government’s now-scrapped excise policy granted undue financial favours to vendors in return for kickbacks], and they (AAP government) do not want this investigation to continue. Day-to-day administrative matters do not come under the purview of assembly committees, Sachdeva told ThePrint.
However, Delhi Assembly Speaker Goyal said that officers are being summoned in connection with ongoing cases since last year.
“In the present scenario [after the ordinance]They are not even presenting themselves before the committee,” he said, indicating that the assembly committees seek answers from officials involved in alleged irregularities or through inaction on their part causing disruption in the delivery of public services.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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