New Delhi: With Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar Monday becoming the latest civil servant to be summoned by the assembly’s committee on petitions, the jurisdiction of such panels has come under the spotlight.
Opposition leaders say the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government is misusing the powers of assembly committees, while the capital’s ruling party claims the panels are looking into alleged irregularities.
The Delhi assembly has over 20 panels comprising legislators that are either constituted by the speaker or the House. These are recommendatory bodies that deal with aspects related to finance, public grievances and welfare of Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes (OBCs), among others.
“We call them mini legislatures, because the work of the House is distributed among them since the latter does not have the time to assess various aspects in detail,” a senior Delhi government official said to ThePrint.
The committee on petitions deals with representations of the public, which are forwarded by various MLAs to the assembly speaker — who decides whether the committee can consider and take up the matters.
Kumar is not the only officer to be summoned by an assembly panel since 19 May, when the central government promulgated its ordinance for Delhi — which, in effect, negates a Supreme Court ruling that the government has control over bureaucrats in administration of services.
In the past week itself, the petition committee has summoned former services secretary Ashish More (removed from the post last month) and divisional commissioner Ashwani Kumar on a complaint alleging irregularities in land transfer.
Simultaneously, the committee on welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes summoned Y.V.V.J. Rajasekhar, special secretary, vigilance, who is at loggerheads with the AAP government. Rajasekhar was summoned on 6 June on a complaint that the officer had made casteist remarks against an individual — an allegation the officer has challenged with a police complaint.
The officer is part of vigilance department probes into the alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped excise policy (2021-22) and the renovation of the Chief Minister’s official residence, among others.
While raising doubts about the powers of the committees, Opposition BJP and senior government officials said the panels have gone on an overdrive, on matters that are not under their purview, like “day-to-day administrative matters”.
A senior Delhi government official said while the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021, restricts the committees from inquiring into day-to-day administrative matters, there’s still a loophole in the interpretation of rules.
“The speaker decides on how the committees are constituted and what matters are to be considered by them. The problem is that nobody has defined a ‘day-to-day administration decision’, and that is a loophole,” said the senior official.
The official added, “If an officer does not appear before an assembly committee, the latter can send their report to the House. The House can then summon the officer or pass a resolution to decide upon the action to be taken.”
Delhi assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel told ThePrint that “ever since” the central government promulgated the GNCTD (Amendment) Ordinance, officers have stopped appearing before the committees because the ordinance gives “more powers” to them and overriding powers to the Lieutenant Governor (L-G).
Reached for comment, an official at the L-G House said that the 2021 amendment clearly states that matters regarding day-to-day administration cannot be considered by the panels, while nothing that the panels are taking up matters outside their jurisdiction.
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Spat over rules
Officers failing to appear before the committee have also led to controversies. According to a report by The Hindu, an ambulance was sent to check on the then Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) secretary Bhagwan Singh in March after he failed to appear before the committee on petitions, citing health reasons.
Prior to this, the L-G and the assembly speaker were involved in a war of words after the former directed officers to report any violation of rules by the panels. The speaker called it an attempt to interfere with the functioning of the assembly.
Speaking to ThePrint, MCD officials said the incident involving the civic body secretary was an example of the violations the L-G had directed to be flagged.
The BJP has questioned the recurring issuance of summons to bureaucrats. Delhi unit chief Virendra Sachdeva alleged the government is misusing the panels to settle scores with officers with whom they are at loggerheads.
“These include officers who are investigating corruption matters such as the excise scam [allegations that the AAP government’s now-scrapped excise policy granted undue financial favours to vendors in return for kickbacks], and they [AAP government] do not want these probes to continue. The day-to-day administrative matters are not under the purview of the assembly committees,” Sachdeva said to ThePrint.
However, Delhi assembly Speaker Goel said the officers “are being summoned regarding matters that have been going on since last year”.
“In the current scenario [after the ordinance], they are not even presenting themselves before the committee,” he added, while indicating that the assembly committees seek answers from officers involved in alleged irregularities or causing disruption in delivery of public services through inaction on their part.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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