Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal (File Photo) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal (File Photo)

Vijay Kumar Dev will be the third successive Chief Secretary of the national capital to have been appointed without any consultation with the Delhi Chief Minister, which is a requirement under a cadre policy of the MHA issued in 2016.

Notified on November 9, 2016, the policy came over a year after the MHA took away control of services from the Arvind Kejriwal government in May, 2015. It states: “The transfer and postings of Chief Secretary/ Administrator and the senior-most police officer heading the policy force in the state/UT may be decided with the approval of Home Minister in consultation with Chief Minister of States concerned. A panel of three names can be suggested to CM… who may convey their response with reasons thereof on the panel within a period of 15 days.”

“After considering the response received from the CM, the MHA may issue the orders for posting of Chief Secretary/ Administrator/Director General of Police. In case no response is received within a period of 15 days, the MHA may decide the matter at its own level. The transfer and posting of other officials shall be decided by joint cadre authority of AGMUT cadre,” it states.

When contacted, a senior MHA official said while the policy does exist, in Delhi’s case the Transaction of Business Rules (TBR) takes precedence, obviating the need to consult the CM.

Clause 2 of Section 55 of the Transaction of Business Rules (TBR), a set of bylaws under the GNCDT Act, 1991, states that selection and posting of the Chief Secretary needs the approval of the L-G.

But two Chief Secretaries, who served under the Sheila Dikshit government, told The Indian Express that while the L-G’s approval was mandatory, the CM was always consulted. Even the first CS appointed under the Kejriwal government, K K Sharma, was among the three choices sent to AAP, a senior official in the CM’s office said. “However, after the MHA notification, this convention was done away with. We were nowhere in the picture in the appointment of M M Kutty, Anshu Prakash and Vijay Dev,” the official said.

Apart from Delhi, the states and Union Territories falling in the jurisdiction of AGMUT are Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Goa, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Daman and Diu, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Lakshadweep and Puducherry.

The AAP said the move to replace Prakash was “unnecessary” as the issue of control over services is currently in the Supreme Court.

“If a favourable verdict comes, we will pitch for a CS of our own choice, which will lead to complications,” an official said.

But a former chief secretary said even a favourable verdict won’t empower the Delhi government to have complete say on the choice of Chief Secretaries. “But the Centre will surely have to consult them at least,” the CS said, on condition of anonymity.

Unofficial consultations with the Chief Minister in this regard came into practice also because of an MHA notification, dated September 24, 1998, which clearly spelt out that the Lieutenant Governor shall consult the CM even in cases falling under the domain of public order, police and services. But the MHA notification of 2015 had effectively superseded it.

With inputs from Rahul Tripathi

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