Friction Between Delhi MLAs and Bureaucracy — A Throwback

Protests by the elected representatives and IAS officers of the Delhi government have turned eyeballs to the tussle for power over the capital city-state. The greatest victim of this conflict is true public interest, thus requiring both these entities to behave like professionals and mitigate their differences.

 There appears to be three elements to this entire episode:

• Bureaucrats disgruntled by the alleged misbehaviour by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Cabinet
• Counter-protests by Kejriwal and his colleagues who have also claimed interference and non-cooperation by the Narendra Modi-led central  government through the lieutenant governor (L-G) of Delhi
• A tussle for control over Delhi between the BJP and the AAP. The L-G who seems to be operating based on a Delhi High Court judgement that held that the Centre has supremacy over the elected state government in certain matters

 Background

It is not long ago that Delhi was made into a state from a union territory. Delhi has had several governments, but they have by and large cooperated with the Centre over matters of administration. The last two terms of Sheila Dikshit-led government in Delhi coincided with that of the UPA at the Centre, led by the Congress, which is her party as well. Also, Dikshit’s stature within her party made it not difficult for her to manage all aspects of governing Delhi.

The situation changed—only slightly—when the Kejriwal-led Aam Admi Party emerged victorious in the 2014 election. His first stint lasted 49 days, during which the Congress was still in power at the Centre, besides a Congress-nominated L-G (former bureaucrat Najeeb Jung), even as the Congress had lent support to the AAP government.

The government fell on February 14, 2014. The Congress and AAP parted ways and then, exactly a year later, Kejriwal’s party came back—this time, with a sweeping majority. By that time, the BJP had taken over power at the Centre, and Jung had to discharge his duties as per the centre’s directions. Faced with resistance from the L-G, Kejriwal and AAP leaders protested on several occasions about “interference” from the Centre in matters of administration of the state. The less-than-quasi-federal nature of Delhi’s government made matters worse and finally the AAP headed to the courts. 

READ ALSO: Ten Reasons Why Kejriwal Is Angry

In August 2016, Delhi HC decided in the favour of the Centre. It held that the constitutional head of the National Capital Territory not bow to the elected government of Delhi, in effect deciding that despite an elected government, the L-G has more powers than the governor of a state. Without an amendment to Article 239 of the Constitution of India or a re-interpretation of this code, Delhi is still a union territory, in the Delhi High Court’s view. The Delhi government appealed to the Supreme Court. In February 2017, after a year’s worth of pleas, it was referred to a constitutional bench, which has heard the arguments and kept the order reserved for seven months.

In the meantime this year, the chief secretary of Delhi alleged that he was assaulted by cabinet members of Kejriwal, during a meeting with the chief minister and his council onFebruary 19. Recently, the Delhi Police interrogated Kejriwal for five hours, but is yet to file a chargesheet on an allegation of simple assault. While the kind of assault might be described as simple, a bureaucrat alleging that he was thrashed cannot be described in the same manner. The AAP has expressed its reservations of a fair probe since the Delhi police is under the Centre’s control and it anticipates interference by the BJP-led government.

READ ALSO: Kejriwal, Ministers Continue Protest, Refuse To Leave Delhi L-G Office Till Demands Are Met

In the meantime, as per several observers, Kejriwal, who was known to express frequent outbursts at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, decided to play it cool and stopped his venting, especially on both social and conventional media. AAP insiders say he was hoping for a reciprocation especially in matters related to administration of the Capital. Before that, whether it be key decisions of the central government, such as ‘demonetisation’ or surrogate control of Delhi government through the LG, Kejriwal has been explicit in his criticism of Modi.

The year-long of silence ended on Monday (June 11), when Kejriwal and his colleagues decided to camp outside the office of the current L-G, Anil Baijal, for some administrative decisions. It was a taste of the old Kejriwal, the one who filed RTIs and sat outside the offices of babus waiting for justice. The photos of them lounging in the parlour outside the L-G’s office were circulated widely by the Cabinet members themselves. AAP members supported it with claims of the bureaucrats not cooperating and provided several purported instances.

Kejriwal’s colleagues, party workers and others have described it as a ‘strike’ by the babus of Delhi. The IAS officers association has said that none of the bureaucrats in the Delhi government “…is or has been on strike subsequent to the unfortunate assault of the Chief Secretary at 12 midnight on 19.02.2018 at CM’s residence by MLAs in the presence of Chief Minister and Dy. Chief Minister.”

It is not Kejriwal alone who has been on protest, following the assault on the chief secretary to the Delhi government, the bureaucrats—powerful as they are—staged a candlelight march. The IAS Association clarified that this had been held ‘after office hours’ and without disrupting the work schedule. 

The IAS Officers Association says that the officers continue to be “concerned about their physical safety and security as also attacks on their dignity and respect. They are also concerned about continued threat and intimidation and verbal assaults by many of the Ministers.”

The IAS Officers Association has denied that the bureaucrats have been missing meetings of public importance. “The concerned officers have been attending all Cabinet meetings, statutory meetings and meetings of importance affecting the public. They have also been regularly briefing the Ministers for Assembly questions.”

AAP members have claimed that the bureaucrats have not been cooperating in answering questions that were placed before the Delhi Vidhan Sabha. 

The IAS officers have responded saying that the ministers have misrepresented the minutes of meetings between the bureaucrats and ministers. 

“While the CM did send a message to the Chief Secretary for a meeting to resolve these issues, the CM later on did not give time for the said meeting. No efforts were made by the CM to reach out to the Officers and to deal with their genuine concerns,” it said.

Though the IAS Officers Association has denied that there is a strike, it has said that they are not attending meetings called by the ministers and is holding “…a five-minute silence during lunch time, in their respective offices, in support of their demand for dignity and personal safety of all officers/officials.” This supports the Kejriwal cabinet’s allegations of a ‘cease work’ by the babus.

AAP leaders have cited several examples of key governance ideas that have suffered, including the installation of CCTV cameras in Delhi, painting and repair of government schools, implementation of a programme for home delivery of subsidised rations.

The IAS officers have responded by claiming that the file for the programme for home delivery of rations has been pending with the minister for the last three months. They claim that the officer in question was called for a meeting, for which the minister did not turn up at his own office.

The lack of powers of his government, despite being elected, is undeniably stark. In the Supreme Court, the Delhi government had also offered a compromise. Going by a recent column of Kejriwal’s media adviser, Nagendra Sharma, they have also proposed that the centre need only administer Lutyens Delhi (which has central government offices), which can be done through the New Delhi Municipal Corporation, overseen by the L-G.

Kejriwal appears to be taking on the Centre, which has constitutional backing, at least for the time being. But, without settling differences with the IAS officers, he may face difficulty in executing his ideas for governance. Some speed from the Supreme Court might help push along matters.