New Delhi: The Union government on Thursday cancelled the Delhi government’s order to remove Home Secretary Dharam Pal who had issued letter appointing Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police M K Meena as the new Chief of Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB).
The Home Ministry has termed the removal of Delhi Home Secretary Dharam Pal as “void” and asked the Delhi government to withdraw the order.
Pal was transferred by Arvind Kejriwal government on Tuesday but the L-G reinstated him and asked to continue on the same post.
According to a leading channel, the Union Home Ministry said under cadre rules of all India joint services only, it can remove an officer from the post of Delhi home secretary.
Meena is currently serving as Joint Commissioner of New Delhi range and the LG’s order said he has been given additional charge of ACB.
The Kejriwal-led government has been on a confrontational mode with the Centre after it came to loggerheads with LG Jung over the issue of postings and transfers of senior bureaucrats and routing of files.
The conflict over authority over the bureaucracy has been a major source of confrontation between the Aam Aadmi Party government and the Lieutenant Governor.
This is not the first time that civil servants have been caught in the crossfire between the LG and the AAP government.
Recently, Anindo Majumdar was removed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as principal secretary of the services department after he issued a notification appointing senior bureaucrat Shakuntla Gamlin as the acting chief secretary following instructions from Najeeb Jung.