‘Guv v Govt’ Sisodia Filed Affidavit in SC ‘Bureucrates not taking Government’s Call’

The Rift is Widening day by day between Delhi state government and the LG. The Dy Chief Minister of Delhi today filed and affidavit and said before Supreme Court that senior civil servants behave indifferent attitude with Elected government.

Mr Sisodia, in his affidavit, complained that the civil servants are not accountable to the state government as their controlling power is with the central government and this has jeopardised the administration.

 The affidavit has been filed in the petition filed by the Delhi Government challenging the notifications issued by the Central Government regarding control of civil servants who serve the government in the national capital.

Sisodia’s affidavit states that the administration is based on a “trustworthy relationship” between the elected government and its officials. The concept is that when the elected government is accountable to the people, its officers – who are bound to implement the decisions and policies of the executive – are accountable to the government.

The concept is that while the elected government is answerable to the people, its officials – who are duty bound to implement the decisions and policies of the executive- are answerable to the government.

However, the notifications issued by the Centre to assume control over services have disrupted this scheme of governance, Mr. sisodia said.

‘Given this regime introduced by the impugned notification, it is not surprising that the civil servants serving in the Government of NCT of Delhi have become indifferent to the elected government. The net result is that the basic day to day functioning of the the Government of NCT of Delhi stands completely jeopardised’,

‘Despite advance notice, senior civil servants and heads of departments routinely skip meetings with Ministers of the elected government. In most cases, no explanation for absence or request for rescheduling is conveyed to the office of the Minister and instead, junior officials are sent to attend the meetings, in a shocking breach of protocol.

Even beyond the issue of obvious breach of protocol, the deliberate absence of senior officials in meetings prevents Ministers from discussing projects and their implementation, or reviewing any delayed action, inefficiency in performance, inadequacy of governance outcomes or other serious issues such as corruption and malfeasance,” the affidavit states.

The Deputy CM further stated that this problem has “become even more acute” with the appointment of VK Saxena as the Lieutenant Governor earlier this year.