Rajendra Kumar not new to controversy

The CBI raid against chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s trusted lieutenant and principal secretary (services) Rajendra Kumar has put the AAP government in a catch-22 situation, with senior officers considered close to the city administration fear that they could face the wrath if they don’t toe the line of the Centre on several contentious issues concerning the national capital.

“The CBI action has shaken the city bureaucracy. We do not know whether to follow directions of our minister concerned or our cadre controlling authority,” a Danics officer told this newspaper.

Echoing the same sentiment, another officer said that the tiff between the Centre and the state has badly affected the development projects. “No officer wants to take any independent decision. Files are being tossed from one department to the other,” he added. While Mr Kumar had been known for maintaining low-profile and clean image, his tenure in various key departments had been controversial for his radical decisions which had not gone well with those who could not benefit from his actions. A 1989 cadre IAS officer and an IIT Delhi alumnus, Mr Kumar began his bureaucratic journey as the additional commissioner in land and revenue department way back in 1991.

Mr Kumar first courted controversy as the VAT commissioner in 2011 when he introduced online system in the department. The online system did not go well with a section of traders who started levelling charges of corruption and harassment against him.

As power secretary in 2008-09, Mr Kumar again hogged the limelight for issuing a comfort letter to private discoms for raising loans from financial institutions. It is the same letter of comfort for which power minister Satyendra Jain had accused principal secretary Shakuntala Gamlin of trying to favour the power companies.

Mr Kumar too had raked a major controversy for reportedly threatening 1984 batch IAS officer Shakuntala Gamlin, saying she should not follow the directions of lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung in connection with assuming the charge of the acting chief secretary for a 10-day period. Ms Gamlin, in return, had reportedly warned him of legal action.

Reports suggest that Mr Kumar had reportedly threatened Ms Gamlin on behalf of the CMO. Now the CBI has proceeded against Mr Kumar in connection with a matter related to computerisation of schools which he had initiated during his tenure as the director of education. A few months ago, Ashish Joshi, former member secretary of the Delhi Dialogue Commission (DDC), had made ground of computerisation of schools scam and approached ACB chief M.K. Meena to probe the matter. In his complaint, Mr Joshi alleged that Mr Kumar, as director of education (from May, 2002 to February, 2005) and later secretary (IT), secretary (health) and commissioner (VAT), had allegedly set up various companies to award work orders of departments without tenders which caused “financial loss” to the city’s government.

“Mr Kumar formed a company viz Endeavours Systems Private Ltd along with some persons. In 2007, he became secretary (IT) in Government of NCT of Delhi. During this period, he got this company empanelled with PSU viz ICSIL.”