The tussle between the AAP government and the bureaucracy once again took an ugly turn with both of them levelling a series of allegations over the developmental work in the city. The IAS officers have been on a partial strike over three months after Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash was allegedly assaulted by the AAP MLAs.

On Monday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a scathing attack said that due to the ongoing strike, the work in the city is getting hampered. He called the strike as an 'act of gross misconduct'. In a letter to Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, he also attached a list of the efforts taken by the Council of Ministers to bridge the gap.

"It is the L-G's constitutional duty to ensure that IAS officers resume works and exemplary punishment is awarded to those officers who have been stalling work till now," he wrote in the letter.

Giving a datewise, detailed description of the communication and the efforts made by the AAP ministers, the list also spoke about the various instances where the L-G had refused to meet the ministers. The list mentions the name of various IAS officers who have not completed the projects as suggested by the government. Issues related to the department of transport, food and supplies, Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) and the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC) were highlighted.

Denying the accusations made by Kejriwal, the IAS Officers Association said that no work has been hampered due to the silent protest. The officers claimed that while they were attending all Cabinet meetings and other important meetings, they still feel unsafe while being with the MLAs/ ministers.

"The CM and the ministers have failed till date to give any assurance regarding safety, security, dignity and respect to the officers. Due to genuine apprehension in the mind of the officers, we are constrained to have interaction with the ministers only by means of written communication," the association said in a statement on Monday.

The officials also claimed that there have been instances where officers have attended the meeting of ministers but what the Minister has subsequently recorded on a file is contrary to what was discussed during the meeting. "This has further widened the gap between us. The Ministers still do not trust us. We are again and again questioned over the issues which do not hold any importance," said a senior officer requesting anonymity.

WHAT IT WILL CHANGE

In May 2015, an MHA notification took away services and the Anti Corruption Bureau from Delhi government — meaning all transfers and postings and the ACB were placed under the direct control of the L-G .

On August 4, 2016, the Delhi High Court interpreted the abovementioned notification to rule that the L-G is the administrator of Delhi and the aid and advice of the council of ministers is not binding on him.

If the demand for statehood for Delhi is granted, then the ruling government in the national Capital will have administrative powers

A QUICK RECAP

Former Delhi Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana expressed the need for a Delhi state on August 26, 1994. Under the chief ministership of Sahib Singh Verma, a draft bill for full statehood of Delhi was prepared in 1998 and the Delhi statehood Bill was presented in Parliament in August 2003 as the Delhi State Bill by the then Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani.

The then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the BJP manifesto ahead of the 1999 Lok Sabha election promised full statehood for Delhi.

In 2011, VK Malhotra, the leader of the opposition, suggested that BJP has been demanding full statehood for Delhi since 1956.