Delhi govt locks offices of senior bureaucrat Anindo Majumdar for clearing Gamlin’s appointmen

TNN

New Delhi, 18 May 2015: The AAP government in Delhi on Monday locked the office of senior bureaucrat Anindo Majumdar (principal secretary services) in the Delhi secretariat, whose office had confirmed the appointment of Shakuntala Gamlin as acting chief secretary.

 

Delhi government sources claim the transfer and posting of officers under UT cadre and their work allocation comes under the jurisdiction of the Delhi government.

 

"Anindo Majumdar bypassed all council of ministers, he is no more secretary of services," Delhi government sources told ANI.

 

The powers of Anindo Majumdar have been transferred to Rajendra Kumar who took over as new principal secretary (services) in Delhi. Delhi lt governor Najeeb Jung, however, rejected Rajendra Kumar’s appointment, terming his appointment ’void’.

 

Earlier on Sunday, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said the confrontation over the appointment of power secretary Shakuntala Gamlin as acting chief secretary was another instance of interference by the Narendra Modi government and hinted that the Centre was conspiring to ensure that the AAP dispensation "failed".

 

Dwelling on the conspiracy angle, Kejriwal wondered why the Centre would push for Shankutala Gamlin’s appointment as acting chief secretary in the face of Delhi government’s opposition.

 

The confrontation over Gamlin’s appointment had led to a letter war between AAP and Delhi lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung.

 

The CM accused Gamlin of lobbying for the discoms. "She asked our power minister to sign a letter. When the minister questioned her about it, she said that it was a ’comfort letter’ for the discoms which have applied for a loan of Rs 11,000 crore. But when the minister enquired from others, he got to know that it was guarantee letter from the government. If Reliance-owned power companies failed to pay the loan, the burden would come on the people and the rates in Delhi would have increased two-three fold," he said.