Manish Sisodia accuses L-G of running a circus'

New Delhi: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday accused Lt Governor Anil Baijal of running a “circus” of transfer-postings as a “ringmaster” and shuffling officials like playing cards.

Sisodia made the comments while tabling an outcome report on the office of the lieutenant governor in the Assembly. The Aam Aadmi Party leader also hit out at the Modi government, saying it was also an outcome report of the central government that claims control over the Services Department through the lieutenant governor.

The deputy chief minister said the “circus” had been going on since August 4, 2016, when the LG office started it is the sole incharge of services.

“The way he has shuffled senior officers of the level of secretaries like playing cards in a pack, and acted like a ringmaster of transfer-postings... It has crippled the governance by the Delhi government. He must be doing it at the instance of the Modi government which claims control over the services matter,” Sisodia said in the House.

In the past 30 months, Delhi had seen four chief secretaries, Sisodia said, adding that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had got to know about the appointment of chief secretary through the media.

There are huge numbers of vacancies in different arms of the Delhi government and there is no word on when would the vacancies be filled, Sisodia said.

Senior officers, including principal secretaries, are allowed by the LG to go on leave without consulting or informing the ministers concerned, the AAP leader alleged.

The deputy chief minister cited instances of how the functioning of various departments got affected in the past two-and-a-half years due to the “circus” of transfer-postings.

Family Welfare has seen five principal secretaries. At a time when the government was making efforts to procure 3,000 buses and 1,000 electric buses for strengthening public transport in Delhi, the Transport Department has seen four principal secretaries, the minister said.