New Delhi: The Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government on Monday suffered a major setback with the Delhi High Court refusing to remove Mukesh Kumar Meena as chief of Delhi’s anti-corruption bureau (ACB).
The court also directed Kejriwal appointee S.S. Yadav to report to Meena.
The Delhi government had on Saturday moved the High Court seeking Meena’s removal and demanding that his entry into the ACB office be barred. The petition is part of the protracted turf war between chief minister Kejriwal and Delhi Lietenant Governor Najeeb Jung.
Jung had appointed Meena as chief of ACB on June 8 much to the chagrin of the Kejriwal government, which says the right to appoint and transfer bureaucrats rests with the elected Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.
The federal home ministry had last month issued an official explanation that as a representative of the federal government, Lt Gov Jung has the constitutional right to appoint and transfer bureaucrats.
The turf war started when Lt Governor Jung appointed IAS officer Shakuntala Gamlin as the acting chief secretary for 10 days. Gamlin has since proceeded on leave to duck the cross-fire. The fallout of the turf war is that Delhi currently has two home secretaries and two ACB chiefs, one each appointed by Jung and Kejriwal.
The court on Monday issued a notice to the federal government and asked it to reply in two weeks and has fixed the next date of hearing in the case for August 11. The court has clubbed the petition against Meena’s appointment with the Delhi government’s plea challenging the constitutional validity of the federal government’s notification giving the lieutenant governor unbridled power in appointment and transfer of senior bureaucrats in Delhi.
Delhi being a Union Territory enjoys limited benefits of statehood. Decisions pertaining to certain issues like law and order, Delhi Police and acquired land vest with different federal ministries and the Lieutenant Governor as its representative has been exercising these powers since the provincial government was first formed in 1993. This, however, is not acceptable to Kejriwal who has challenged these constitutional provisions.
The Kejriwal government had threatened to block the entry of Meena, who by seniority became Yadav’s boss, into the ACB office. It chose Yadav to head the ACB after it came to power with a large majority in the Delhi legislative assembly elections in February.
The Kejriwal government has been insisting that Meena has been named to head the provincial anti-graft body to protect certain officials and individuals.
