Delhi LG Anil Baijal says he still controls officers’ postings and transfers

India वोट Kar | July 7, 2018

The tussle between the Centre and Delhi’s AAP government continued on Friday, when Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal described Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal’s refusal to hand control of officers’ transfers and postings to the elected government as a conspiracy to paralyse his administration.

The LG’s position

After meeting the Chief Minister, their first meeting since Kejriwal’s nine-day sit-in at the LG’s residence, Baijal wrote to him saying the Union home ministry had advised him to retain control over “services”, because the Supreme Court had said the matter would be decided by a regular bench. He maintained that the home ministry’s notification of May 21, 2015, which placed services under the LG, remained in force, and pointed out that the Delhi High Court had upheld it on August 4, 2016.

Kejriwal’s response

Kejriwal said the Supreme Court had made clear that the elected government holds executive power on every subject except land, public order and police, which brings services within its remit. He argued that although the notification had not been specifically struck down, it had become ineffective in light of the court’s ruling. He accused the Centre of advising the LG to disregard part of the judgment, called this very dangerous, and said such defiance could lead to anarchy.

His government was taking legal advice on whether to file a contempt petition against the LG, he said. A day earlier he had written to Baijal warning that acting on services files would amount to contempt of the court. Kejriwal also sought a meeting with Home Minister Rajnath Singh. He said running projects and schemes without control over officers would be very difficult, and alleged that the Centre did not want his government to do good work because it would help AAP at the polls.

Within hours of the Supreme Court verdict, the AAP government had introduced a new transfer and posting system that made the Chief Minister and ministers the approving authorities.