Arvind Kejriwal, Narendra Modi and the truth about Delhi IAS transfers

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal routinely accuses the Narendra Modi-led Central government of “Hitlershahi and autocracy”. The latest instance being the arrest of his Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the transfer of 11 senior officials. Except that now, there is a growing army of officials in the Delhi government turning against Kejriwal for the very same reason.

Senior Delhi government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, alleged that Kejriwal himself unilaterally decides all transfers and postings in Delhi, completely bypassing the Chief Secretary. The command structure is additionally vitiated by Kejriwal’s bullying of officials to follow his orders arbitrarily without following the mandatory guidelines and rules prescribed for the purposes of carrying out official work, they say.

Exerting absolute control in this manner indicates that Kejriwal himself must be fully accountable for all lapses in governance and administrative efficiency in his government. The only thing Kejriwal doesn’t have control over is the Delhi police, which is a law enforcement arm, so he cannot blame serious governance issues/corruption coverups on this. Yet, he seeks to divert all blame to the Centre.

In the light of growing evidence against Rajendra Kumar, Kejriwal, who earlier defended him vigorously, has abstained from making any press statement in the past few days, leaving it to his Deputy CM, Manish Sisodia to continue to bemoan the loss of the “IIT-educated, brilliant and talented” Kumar with “honest image”, while alleging a conspiracy by the Modi government, motivated by “political vendetta”, to strip the Delhi government of all such “talent”.

This is despite the fact that the CBI also arrested Tarun Sharma, Deputy Secretary in Kejriwal’s office, Ashok Kumar, a close aide of Rajendra Kumar and Sandeep Kumar and Dinesh Gupta — both owners of Endeavour Systems. Ashok Kumar has confessed to taking bribes from Endeavour at the behest of Rajendra Kumar.

Sisodia had made three other charges against the Centre: That it is using vendetta politics to paralyse the Delhi government by slapping the CBI case on Rajendra Kumar and transferring its senior, honest and talented officials; that the transfers were done without consulting the Chief Secretary; and that the Centre is “threatening” good officers with transfers to remote areas without their families solely on account of them working for Kejriwal.

2016-07-12_11-02-30 by Firstpost on Scribd

No evidence of vendetta by Centre

Kejriwal’s own officials confirm that the Ministry of Home Affairs, which is the cadre-controlling authority for DANICS officers, was only following laid-down procedure in transferring the 11 officials on 4 July, 2016. (See Officer Memorandum dated 12 December, 2012).

The transfers were far from arbitrary or before the completion of their tenure, as alleged by Kejriwal. The 11 DANICS officials in question include Sanjeev Ahuja, Geetika Sharma, Shashi Kaushal, Sushil Singh, and Sunil Kumar Singh. A mandatory condition of service for DANICS officers is that they have to serve in various segments of the UT cadre and complete two years of service in each posting. If they are transferred out before they fulfill their term in one segment, they can be transferred back from the new posting before the completion of that posting. This is specified in the revised MHA guidelines for transfer/posting of DANICS/DANIPS officers dated 27 August, 2015, in Point 2. Some specific examples include Sanjeev Ahuja who was posted in Daman, but did not complete two years, and Shashi Kaushal who didn’t complete her tenure in Lakshadweep. Some other transfers could also be because of seniority list rotation .

Kejriwal government’s branding of the transfers to another union territory as “punishment” smacks of a superiority complex, apart from raising questions over the depiction of Andamans as a “remote area”. This shows that for this government, there is either Delhi or nothing in a DANICS officer’s life.

Kejriwal charged with shielding, rather than exposing the corrupt.

While Kejriwal projects himself as an anti-corruption crusader, recently stating that “I will die, but will not compromise on corruption”, state government officials allege that in reality, he handpicks and favours some officials — such as Rajendra Kumar and C Arvind, Secretary to Deputy CM, Manish Sisodia — while punishing talented and upright officers with impeccable records like Kuldeep Singh Gangar, former Special Commissioner, Transport, and Ashish Joshi, former Member Secretary (Finance) of the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) and also the man who blew the whistle on Rajendra Kumar.

It is alleged that C Arvind took arbitrary decisions during his tenure in the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC) and it is only a matter of a simple probe to unravel his dealings.

Questions are also being raised why Kejriwal, who claims to be ruling with a heavy hand on the corrupt, failed to initiate a probe against his IIT-alumni Rajendra Kumar when his integrity came under the scanner, rather than first defending him and later crying foul when the CBI eventually took action.

It’s not just Kejriwal’s claim to favour officers of integrity that appears increasingly untenable. His stated preference for merit is also being challenged after the manner in which he dealt with Gangar, the man who is credited with successfully implementing the car-free day in Delhi. Gangar was transferred by Kejriwal, without any posting, eight months ago — punishment for proposing to invite fresh tenders for allotment of shops at various Interstate Bus Terminuses in Delhi. These shops were allotted on tender only for a period of one year, 20 years ago but were being given extensions every year. Gangar’s proposal, which was made in order to overturn an existing scam, strangely enough, instead of pleasing Kejriwal, irked him to the point that he removed Gangar.

However, since it was a pertinent irregularity that had been flagged, the Delhi government, perhaps for fear of being caught on the wrong foot, had to eventually approve Gangar’s proposal and tenders were finally invited on 6 July, 2016. (See documents).

2016-07-12_11-04-33 by Firstpost on Scribd

Kejriwal responsible for the paralysis

Delhi government officials say there is no question of the Central government paralysing the administration since there are many equally, if not more talented, IAS officials who have moved to Delhi from Andaman but are sitting idle for want of Kejriwal giving them a posting. The authority to determine postings of IAS and DANICS officers within Delhi, rests with the Chief Minister, however, Kejriwal has no say in postings that are external to Delhi.

Several officers received their posting orders only on 8 July, after languishing without work for two months, while there is no immediate line of sight to a posting for Gangar, even after eight months.

Officials further point out that just like Kejriwal’s huge Rs 526-crore advertising expenditure on his own publicity, it is equally a shocking waste of public resources for Kejriwal to place so many good officers on long paid leave for no reason.

They emphasise that far from being “threatened” by the Modi regime for loyalty to Kejriwal with postings in remote areas, many honest officials do not themselves wish to serve under Kejriwal and have asked for postings outside Delhi. A case in point is Yashpal Garg, Special Secretary, Home, who was wrongfully suspended by the Delhi government and whose suspension was then set aside by the MHA.