Setback for Kejriwal in power tussle
HIGH COURT REJECTS PETITION SEEKING INCUMBENT’S REMOVAL FROM POST
The Arvind Kejriwalled Delhi government yesterday suffered a major setback with the Delhi High Court refusing to remove Mukesh Kumar Meena as chief of Delhi’s anticorruption bureau (ACB).
The court also directed Kejriwal appointee S.S. Yadav to report to Meena.
The Delhi government had on Saturday moved the High Court seeking Meena’s removal and demanding that his entry into the ACB office be barred. The petition is part of the protracted turf war between chief minister Kejriwal and Delhi Lietenant Governor Najeeb Jung.
Jung had appointed Meena as chief of ACB on June 8 much to the chagrin of the Kejriwal government, which says the right to appoint and transfer bureaucrats rests with the elected Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.
The federal home ministry had last month issued an official explanation that as a representative of the federal government, Lt Gov Jung has the constitutional right to appoint and transfer bureaucrats.
The turf war started when Lt Governor Jung appointed IAS officer Shakuntala Gamlin as the acting chief secretary for 10 days. Gamlin has since proceeded on leave to duck the crossfire. The fallout of the turf war is that Delhi currently has two home secretaries and two ACB chiefs, one each appointed by Jung and Kejriwal.
The court yesterday issued a notice to the federal government and asked it to reply in two weeks and has fixed the next date of hearing in the case for August 11.
The court has clubbed the petition against Meena’s appointment with the Delhi government’s plea challenging the constitutional validity of the federal government’s notification giving the lieutenant governor unbridled power in appointment and transfer of senior bureaucrats in Delhi.
Delhi being a Union Territory enjoys limited benefits of statehood. Decisions pertaining to certain issues like law and order, Delhi Police and acquired land vest with different federal ministries and the Lieutenant Governor as its representative has been exercising these powers since the provincial government was first formed in 1993.