L-G Baijal declares panel of lawyers appointed by Delhi govt as invalid
NEW DELHI: Delhi chief secretary Anshu Prakash, on the directions of Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, passed an order last week declaring a panel of 14 prominent lawyers appointed by the Delhi government as invalid.
The decision, taken citing procedural lapses, triggered a fresh round of tussle between the L-G and Arvind Kejriwal government, with the chief minister suggesting that Baijal should “do something constructive”, while terming the move “illegal” and “unconstitutional”.
The panel was appointed by state law minister Kailash Gahlot in November 2017 and January this year to represent the Delhi government in the high court and give legal opinions. It included senior lawyers such as Indira Jaising, Rebecca Mammen John, Colin Gonsalves and Sanjay Hegde.
The chief secretary also marked the copy of his order to pay and account offices of Delhi government for further action, resulting in non-payment to these lawyers.
The L-G’S office said that a minister making such an appointment is in violation of the transaction of business rules. “Such orders can be issued only by an official after taking approval from the minister and then the L-G. But, in this case the appointment was made by the minister himself and the file was not sent to the L-G’S office, despite Gahlot’s secretary advising him to do so,” said a government official privy to the development.
The order drew sharp criticism from Kejriwal. “All our advisers, lawyers, CCTV camera project and doorstep delivery of ration project have been rejected. L-G sir, at least do something constructive in life, rather than rejecting everything,” he said.
In his written communication to the chief secretary, L-G’S principal secretary Vijay Kumar said the orders regarding the panel of lawyers had allegedly been issued without obtaining the approval of Baijal.
Following the direction by the L-G office, the chief secretary on May 17 wrote to all principal secretaries and secretaries of the Delhi government, stating: “Therefore, all concerned may kindly note that the said orders (regarding empanelment of lawyers) of November 29, 2017 and January 18, 2028 have not been validly issued in view of the material infirmities...”
Responding to the development, senior advocate Rebecca John said she was neither informed about being put in the panel, nor about being removed. “It does not matter to my work anyway,” she said.
Lawyer Sanjay Hegde refused to comment saying it was the client’s internal matter. Indira Jaising and Colin Gonsalves were not available for comments. NEWDELHI: The Delhi government on Monday said a “healthy debate” on its policy concerning installation of CCTV cameras across Delhi was welcomed, but “ill-informed doubts” were being raised on the installation of the cameras without evidence.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has been at loggerheads with Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal’s office with the latter setting up a committee to formulate a standard operating procedure (SOP) for installation and operation of CCTVS across Delhi. AAP had promised to install security cameras across Delhi in its election manifesto in 2015. In July 2017, the Kejriwal government announced setting up of 1.4 lakh CCTV under the first phase of the project.
The government, in a statement released on Monday, said its attention had been drawn towards “certain views” expressed in public domain about the installation of CCTV cameras.
Indirectly referring to Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken’s allegations that AAP wanted to benefit a Chinese company through its CCTV project, the government said that “vested interests” were trying to spread “misinformation through a motivated campaign”.
“… (it is) giving rise to reasonable suspicion that big private players, who have lost the tender bid to a public sector enterprise could be behind the entire mischief,” the statement said.
It added: “Ill-informed doubts are being spread that CCTV cameras installation could lead to breach of privacy and alarming terms like surveillance have been linked to this project without any basis and evidence. Nothing can be further from truth and this lie is being spread in order to delay and derail this project.”
The government emphasised there had been no complaints about the privacy concerns over the CCTV cameras installed in New Delhi Municipal Council areas or through MLA Local Area Development Funds in different parts of the city.