In an unprecedented order bound to further escalate the bitter turf war in Delhi, Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung on Wednesday cancelled all the transfers and appointments done by the Arvind Kejriwal government in the last one week.

In a written order sent to the government, Jung has cancelled the postings and transfers of all Delhi officials, even at the level of clerks and stenographers. The order also claims the Delhi government had no jurisdiction for even such appointments or transfers.

Earlier on Wednesday, Kejriwal wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking him to allow the city government to function independently and accusing the Centre of trying to run the Delhi administration. "In Delhi, the central government is trying to run government unconstitutionally through the Lt Governor. Let Delhi government function independently," Kejriwal said in the letter to Modi. Kejriwal writes to Modi: Allow Delhi govt to function independently



The letter by Kejriwal to the Prime Minister came a day after both he and Jung took their bitter fight to President Pranab Mukherjee, accusing each other of violating the Constitution and overstepping their respective jurisdictions. The Lt Governor has been maintaining that he has the power to appoint and transfer the bureaucrats and none of his actions has been unconstitutional as was being alleged by the AAP government. Kejriwal, Jung meet President Mukherjee over ongoing babu tussle



Kejriwal had on Tuesday met Mukherjee along with his deputy Manish Sisodia, who said Jung was functioning as if there is President's Rule in the national capital and there is no elected government. "Despite having a democratically elected government, he (LG) is bypassing the chief minister and ministers and issuing instructions to officers. He is even threatening them with transfers if they do not follow his orders. It is not good for democracy. We told the President that we accepted LG's decision to appoint acting Chief Secretary even without consulting us. But after that too, he has been appointing officers bypassing the elected government. He is even interfering in the appointments of secretaries and directly ordering them. Then where is democracy," Sisodia had told reporters after meeting Mukherjee. Amid Kejriwal-Jung tussle, 45 IAS officers apply for leave in Delhi



Jung had also met Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday and informed him about his stand-off with the AAP government. The tussle over appointment of Shakuntala Gamlin as acting chief secretary of Delhi had turned into a full-blown war between the AAP government and Jung with Kejriwal alleging that the LG was trying to take over the administration. Despite Kejriwal's strong opposition, Jung had appointed her to the post last Friday.