New Delhi: Veteran bureaucrats have slammed Arvind Kejriwal government for his audacious move to hire six Bihar Police personnel in city's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) without seeking Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung consent.
Shailaja Chandra, former chief secretary of Delhi, said that the latest decision to borrow cops from other states will demoralise thousands of Delhi Police staff.
“This government thinks that the officers from Delhi do not follow its order or will not follow, that is why they are bringing officers from outside,” Chandra said.
“This is a divide and rule policy so that the Delhi's officers can be demoralised. This is absolutely wrong because this system has been in place for 25 years. If there is a problem with that system or you want officers from outside, you can follow procedures,” Chandra added.
Former Union Cabinet secretary TSR Subramanian, who is also known for his inclination behaviour towards AAP, said that the city government has moved far from the real problems of Delhi and unnecessarily sensationalising the issue.
“ACB is in direct control of LG. He is an administrator, he is the ultimate boss. As Kejriwal said that he (Jung) is a ‘viceroy', yes he has all the powers a viceroy had but we call him administrator now,” he said, adding, “It seems that he (Kejriwal) is diverting all from Delhi's real problems by creating sensationalism.”
He, however, favoured the motive of the government to give more teeth to ACB but said that the proper procedure should be followed so that any decision can stand in a court of law.
“There should not be any confrontation. Yes recruitment has to be done to strengthen the ACB but that could be done with dialogue. LG would not refuse if you want officers,” he said.
Ved Marwah, former police commissioner of Delhi, termed the move by the government unconstitutional saying, “This is absolutely unconstitutional and against the procedure. There is a procedure for deputation of officers, which has been abandoned.”
“No one could think that a responsible government would take steps like this. There is only one purpose of AAP government - it wants to mislead the people of Delhi by sending out a message that Kejriwal wants to work but Centre is creating hindrance,” Marwah further said.
Meanwhile, deputy superintendent of police (DSP) in Bihar police Sanjay Bharti, who was deputed to ACB has expressed his inability to take up the new assignment immediately on medical grounds. Other 5 officers who were asked by Delhi government to join the ACB include 3 inspectors - Zakir Hussain, Santosh Kumar and Hare Krishna Mandal - and 2 sub-inspectors - Sanjay Kumar and Bipin Kumar Singh.
Kejriwal had also asked Uttar Pradesh government to send 15 officials to Delhi but later expressed its inability to fulfil the demand citing staff crunch.
Yesterday, the LG's office had issued a press statement stating that Bihar police officers were hired without his consultation.
"The office of the Lt. Governor has so far not received any proposal for the deputation of such personnel from outside Delhi police. The matter will be duly examined as and when the Lt. Governor receives the formal proposal from the Vigilance department of Delhi government," the Raj Niwas said in a statement.
The press release further said that the ACB, being a police station, functions under the authority, control and supervision of the Lt. Governor, a position that has also been clarified by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), vide Notification No 1368 (E), dated 21st May 2015.
