‘Civil servants should work without fear’
UNION HOME MINISTER RAJNATH SINGH ON TUESDAY CAME OUT IN SUPPORT OF CHIEF SECRETARY ANSHU PRAKASH, WHO WAS ALLEGEDLY ATTACKED BY MLAS
NEW DELHI: Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday came out in support of Delhi chief secretary Anshu Prakash who was allegedly assaulted by Aam Aadmi Party MLAS on Monday. The home minister issued a statement in support of the bureaucrat stating that he was deeply pained by the happenings involving the chief secretary of the Delhi government.
“The MHA has sought a report on the incident from the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. Justice will be done,” Singh wrote in a tweet.
“The civil servants should be allowed to work with dignity and without fear,”read another tweet from the minister.
The statement from the home minister came after a delegation of state and government bureaucrats met with him to apprise him of the prevailing situation.
A home ministry official privy to the meeting said the delegation was firm on its demand that an FIR be filed against AAP MLAS who allegedly assaulted the chief secretary of Delhi Anshu Prakash.
“The delegation was outraged and expressed a lot of displeasure over the incident. Their main demand was filing of an FIR,” the official said.
Prior to their meeting with the Union home minister, associations of Indian Administrative Services and Delhi Andaman Nicobar services (DANICS) and Delhi Subordinate Services of Delhi government had condemned the incident and added that the alleged assault took place in presence and with the consent of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.
“The incident which has happened at the official residence of the chief minister clearly appears to be pre-planned, pre- meditated and absolutely without any provocation on part of the chief secretary in view of the fact that the meeting was called at midnight. “The meeting had been called to put pressure on him to release publicity material regarding achievements of the government,” the associations said in a joint statement.
“The appalling and shocking physical assault meted out to the head of the administration of Delhi, in form of blows to the head, amounting to threat to life and physical safety, is deplorable,” the statement further read.
The association also said the incident was a culmination of a series of incidents of officers being subjected to verbal abuse and intimidation by political authorities from time to time and tend to lead to impairment of the effective functioning of bureaucracy in a free and impartial manner.