Rajendra Kumar suspended twice: Withdraw your order, MHA tells Kejriwal govt

According to home ministry sources, the need for asking the Delhi government to withdraw its order arose because there is no enabling provision under the Service Law Jurisprudence for existence of two suspension orders for the same cause of action.

Read | Court sends Arvind Kejriwal’s principal secretary Rajendra Kumar, six others to 3-day CBI custody

“The existence of two suspension orders is likely to be used by the delinquent officer to his advantage in any litigation or proceedings that might ensue. Therefore, the Delhi government has been advised to withdraw the suspension order issued by the Chief Minister…” said a home ministry official. “The MHA suspension order will continue,” the official added.

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The home ministry is the disciplinary authority in respect of IAS and IPS officers belonging to Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre. “The home ministry only can place officers of AGMUT cadre under suspension. The Delhi government, being a Union Territory, does not have jurisdiction to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the officers of AGMUT cadre,” said the MHA official.

The suspension order by the Kejriwal government was held by BJP leaders as an admission of guilt on part of his government. The AAP, however, had rejected this, saying it was the duty of the state government to suspend the officer after 48 hours of custody.

At odds on number of bureaucrats

MHA sources tried to brush aside the Kejriwal government’s “campaign” that the required number of bureaucrats were not provided to it, terming the claim “factually incorrect”. An official said 86 officers in senior level were provided to the city administration against the sanctioned strength of 83. Of the 309 sanctioned strength of Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service (DANICS) officers for Delhi government, 83 are in senior level and 226 in junior level.

The official, however, admitted to vacancies at the junior level. He said of the 226 junior level posts of DANICS officers in Delhi, at present, 82 were serving.

Bail plea

The CBI court on Thursday sought the agency’s response on the bail pleas of two persons arrested in the alleged graft case involving Rajendra Kumar. The Special CBI Judge issued notice to the agency and fixed the matter for hearing on July 25 on the bail pleas of Kumar’s aide Ashok Kumar and Managing Director of a PSU, R S Kaushik.