Minister detained and forced me to sign doc’: Services secy; Bharadwaj dismisses allegations: ‘Officer’s conduct on record’
More said Bharadwaj asked the three of them to take turns to sign the statement. When he refused, More claimed Bharadwaj behaved with him in a “physically aggressive way” and threatened to end his career.
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After not getting any response from the L-G over More’s transfer, Bharadwaj wrote a letter to him, stating, “A lot of work is held up due to that.”(Express Photo) Secretary (Services) Ashish Madhaorao More has accused Services Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj of allegedly detaining, intimidating and forcing him to sign a document earlier this week.
More is the first officer against whom the AAP-led Delhi government had issued transfer orders after the Supreme Court ruled in its favour regarding control over the bureaucracy last week.
Dismissing the allegations, Bharadwaj said the conduct of the officer is “on record”.
In the complaint to Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar, a copy of which has also been marked to the Principal Secretary to the L-G and Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, More has requested for security. He filed the complaint on May 16 after the Civil Services Board (CSB) met to discuss and approve his transfer from the department.
More alleged Bharadwaj called him to his chambers asking for files pertaining to previous years, including one related to CSB notification issued in 2014 that, according to the complaint, was with Special Secretary (Services-1) YVVJ Rajasekhar. More claimed he was detained for an hour and “threatened”. Rajasekhar, also the special secretary (Vigilance), was recently divested of all the roles assigned to him by Bharadwaj.
More said Kinny Singh, Special Secretary (Services-II), and Deputy Secretary (Services-1) Amitabh Joshi were also called to Bharadwaj’s chamber and asked about the files. He claimed when he requested Bharadwaj to allow him to go, the minister accused him of “not following the directions of the elected government”.
In his complaint, the officer said the minister also asked Joshi about the file with notification on the constitution of CSB. When Joshi told Bharadwaj the file was with Rajasekhar, More alleged the minister asked the official to write on a piece of paper that “only one copy of the notification… is available and the file concerned is with Rajasekhar…,” according to the complaint.
More said Bharadwaj asked the three of them to take turns to sign the statement. When he refused, More claimed Bharadwaj behaved with him in a “physically aggressive way” and threatened to end his career.
Bharadwaj responded: “It is a complaint and he can allege anything, even that it was a physical assault… The conduct of the officer is on record; he said he will follow the transfer order but then he absconded, switched off his mobile, WhatsApp, and went incommunicado.”
Meanwhile, after allegedly not getting any response from the L-G over More’s transfer, Bharadwaj wrote a letter to him, stating, “A lot of work is held up due to that.” Later on Friday, the L-G approved the government’s proposal to assign additional charge of the Services department to IAS officer A K Singh, hours after a meeting with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
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