AAP-appointed Tihar jail chief quits hours after taking charge

NEW DELHI:In a blow to the Kejriwal government, senior police officer JK Sharma stepped down as the Delhi prisons chief within three hours of taking charge, saying his appointment was not cleared by the “competent authority”.

As reported by Hindustan Times on Wednesday, the 1982 batch IPS officer was given the additional charge of Tihar Jail by the Kejiwal government on Tuesday afternoon without consulting lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung.

Taken by surprise, Jung scrapped the order, sources said. Sharma, who is director general (home guards), quit after he got to know that the order was not signed by the L-G, sources said.

In his letter, on the Tihar Jail note pad, Sharma, said,“..since the order referred above has not been issued with the approval of the competent authority, hence the charge taken by undersigned is hereby returned to the earlier officer who was holding the charge.”

In Delhi, transfers and appointments of Indian Administrative Services and Indian Police Service officers have to be cleared by the L-G.

The Delhi Police chief will now have to propose a new name to the L-G though Sharma said he would be happy to resume the charge on “approval of competent authority”. Appointments and transfers have caused a lot of friction between the L-G and the Kejriwal government, which accuses Jung of exceeding his brief. There are several cases being heard by the Delhi high court, some of which seek to define the L-G’s role in governance.