Miffed bureaucrats say AAP govt gagging, humiliating them

New Delhi: The ongoing war between the bureaucracy and the AAP government on Tuesday intensified with the IAS and Delhi Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service Association (Danics) accusing Chief Minister Arvind Kejirwal’s Cabinet of humiliating them and issuing gag orders.

The joint meeting of the IAS and Danics officers passed a resolution condemning the behaviour of the Delhi government’s “political executives.” The resolution accused the political executives (read ministers and chairpersons of various boards) of “using derogatory, insulting and humiliating remarks against some senior officers” in meetings and also in both print and electronic media.

The resolution stated that in a particular case, a senior IAS officer had demanded an apology from a “political executive” for derogatory remarks. It may be recalled that recently, city minister Satyandar Jain had accused his health secretary of being “most incompetent, useless and insensitive.” The minister went to the extent of saying that the bureaucrat was an “appointee of L-G Najeeb Jung.” The association in its resolution maintained that this particular “trend of humiliation of officers” has been “causing irreparable agony and anguish to the officers” and their “hard-earned reputation was being put to trial.”

Claiming that the Delhi government was virtually trying to gag these officers, the resolution stated; “The officers are prohibited from accessing to print, electronic and social media to defend themselves even when they are spoken against in an unreasonable manner.” The resolution maintained that “repeated tarnishing of the reputation without any basis will lower the morale of the bureaucracy.”

Hitting out at the AAP government, the resolution stated that “this will cast a shadow on the functioning of the government and in the long-run prove detrimental to the governance.”

The resolution wanted that the officers should be treated “with due respect they deserve and minimum standards of courtesy be extended to them.”

The association resolved to appeal to the “political executive” in Delhi government to maintain “decorum” in their comments against officers and adopt a “fair, just and reasonable” attitude towards officers working with them.