New LG to take oath on Thursday
HT Correspondent
NEW DELHI: Vinai Kumar Saxena, chairperson of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), will be sworn in as Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor (LG) on Thursday, the LG office announced on Tuesday.
Saxena, 64, will be administered the oath of office at Raj Niwas at 11 am by the chief justice of Delhi high court Vipin Sanghi, the LG office said.
The Delhi Cabinet headed by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and top bureaucrats such as the newly appointed chief secretary Naresh Kumar, additional chief secretary Satya Gopal, the special officer and the commissioner of the MCD Ashwani Kumar and Gyanesh Bharti respectively are expected to attend the ceremony.
Saxena will be the first LG of Delhi from a non-bureaucratic, non-defence background. Saxena worked in the private sector for three decades before heading the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) of the central government for six years.
He will replace former civil servant Anil Baijal, who headed Delhi’s government for at least five years and four months before resigning for “personal reasons” last week.
Saxena, who will report to the Union home ministry, will directly oversee issues related to land, services, police and law and order, which come under the purview of the LG. The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment)
Act, 2021, implemented last year, gives primacy to the LG over the elected government in the city.
After Saxena’s name was announced on Monday, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal welcomed the new LG. “The former L-G Anil Baijal and I worked together in Delhi on several projects and tried to solve many issues. He is a very good man. I wish him the best for the future and wish him good health and a long life. I welcome the newly appointed L-G, Vinai Kumar Saxena on behalf of the people of Delhi. He will get the full support of the cabinet for Delhi’s betterment,” he tweeted.
Among other issues that need the new LG’S approval is the Delhi’s revised excise policy.
The state cabinet recently approved the recommendations of a new policy and sent it to the lieutenant governor, a Delhi government official said. The approval and implementation of the revised policy was delayed due to the gubernatorial transition, the official added.
Saxena will also have to look into filling thousands of vacancies in various government departments, recruitment in most of which got delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He will also have to consider several other government schemes – for example, Baijal rejected the Delhi government’s doorstep delivery of ration project, cancelled its home isolation programme and blocked its plan to allow only Delhi residents to be treated at city hospitals for Covid-19.