Yet another administrative tussle was triggered in the capital Friday, this time over another postponement of the National Capital Civil Service Authority (NCCSA) meeting scheduled for the day. The row unfolded after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's office stated that the meeting of the Authority – which is empowered to take decisions regarding the transfer, posting and matters related to vigilance with regard to civil servants posted in the city – needed to be postponed since the Centre's Ordinance on Services was expected to be tabled as a Bill in the Parliament next week. When the bureaucracy questioned another postponement of the meeting, government sources termed it “open rebellion”. The CM's decision to postpone the meeting for the fifth time in a row elicited a sharp response after being conveyed to the other members of the NCCSA – Divisional Commissioner Ashwani Kumar and Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar – who questioned the move seeking to argue that the authority “cannot be made defunct and non-workable lest it may result in mal-administration”. In his communication to the other members of the authority, Kejriwal's office noted that the Union Cabinet, in its meeting held on July 25, replaced the Ordinance with a Bill which is likely to be presented in Parliament on July 31, as per media reports. Though technically the Ordinance was still in force after being promulgated by the President in May, Kejriwal's office noted “it would be proper to wait” for the new Bill to be passed in the Parliament “and work according to that”. In response, the other two members of the NCCSA proposed that the meeting go ahead as rescheduled by Kejriwal for 5 pm Friday with a change in venue – the Delhi Secretariat instead of the Chief Minister's Camp Office. The last meeting of the NCCSA, they stated, was held on June 29 following which it got postponed four times; in the fifth such instance, they also stated, no new date for the meeting had been proposed. Officers who had reported for duty from outside states/UT's, the Members underlined, were without postings and were “sitting idle for no fault of theirs”. In addition, they flagged pending proposals to transfer officers whose tenure in sensitive departments had concluded. “Any inaction on the part of the NCCSA will inter alia facilitate delinquent officers to retire without any action against them.” the members noted. Stating that the quorum of an NCCSA meeting shall be of two members according to the ordinance, they noted, the capital's administration “cannot be left to come to standstill” keeping factors such as the recent flood and the forthcoming G-20 Summit. Delhi government sources, though, said, “The language of letter written by Home Secretary to the CM today is discourteous and amounts to open rebellion. Can one imagine any officer writing such a letter to the CM of any full state?” “There are numerous incidents happening everyday in Delhi government wherein the officers are openly defying ministers’ orders. This is hampering all developmental projects and is against the welfare of Delhi citizens…” government sources alleged. Accusing the Centre of reversing the Supreme Court judgment which had given it the reins of the bureaucracy in the city, AAP government sources said the Centre had promulgated an ordinance which had “wreaked havoc on Delhi” and expressed hope that the apex court would reverse it.
