Delhi cabinet: Delhi Lieutenant-Governor (LG) VK Saxena on Thursday gave his nod to the cabinet reshuffle forwarded by the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. Following the approval, Atishi got Finance and Revenue as well as the Public Relations department. The Public Relations department was previously held by Kailash Gahlot.
Notably, Gahlot was made the Finance Minister when Manish Sisodia went to jail. But now all the key ministries have been taken away from him. In place of Kailash Gehlot, now Atishi has come to the number 2 position in the Arvind Kejriwal government.
Atishi was inducted into ministry in March
Atishi, along with Saurabh Bharadwaj, was inducted into the cabinet in March following the resignations of Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain, who both are in jail in the alleged excise policy scam. Atishi had been holding the portfolios of power, education, art, culture and language, tourism, higher education, training and technical education and public relations.
The file relating to the cabinet reshuffle in the AAP dispensation was lying with Delhi LG for the last four days waiting to be signed, a government source said on Thursday.
"The file to approve these changes was with the Lt Governor for the last four days. His predecessor, Anil Baijal, used to approve such files within half an hour," the source said, adding the reshuffle is going to be a major one.
All the same, sources from the LG office denied the allegation and said the file was signed on Wednesday and sent to the government. There have been a number of shuffles in the ministerial posts in the last few months in the Delhi government.
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Delhi CM halted appointment of edu dept officials
Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal on Thursday halted the appointment of some officials in the Education Department citing ongoing vigilance inquiries against them, officials said.
The CM deliberated with officials on three matters related to appointments in the second meet of the National Capital Civil Service Authority (NCCSA). The first meeting of the NCCSA was held on June 20. LG office sources denied the charges, saying the file has been signed and sent to the government.
In another matter that came up in Thursday's meet, there was a proposal to remove some competent officers from the Education department, which the Chief Minister also objected to and stopped the proposal, an official said.
The third matter in the meeting pertained to the demand of some female officers. They had requested transfers from the post of Sub-Registrar on personal grounds, which the Chief Minister approved on humanitarian grounds, he said. The Delhi Lt Governor is still sitting on the minutes of the first meeting and has not processed the file, he added.
(With PTI inputs)
