Delhi CS attends first official meeting with CM after alleged assault

Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash on Tuesday attended a cabinet meeting to finalise dates for the Delhi assembly’s budget session, his first official meet with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal since he was allegedly assaulted by AAP MLAs last week.

Hours before the meeting, Prakash in a letter to Kejriwal, said he would attend it to discuss important budget matters, assuming that the chief minister ensures 'no physical attack and verbal assault' on officers attending the meet.

The Delhi assembly’s budget session would be held from March 16 to 28, the cabinet has decided.

This is the first meeting of the chief secretary with Kejriwal since the alleged assault on him by some Aam Aadmi Party MLAs at the chief minister’s residence on February 19.

In his letter, Prakash said, ‘A meeting of the Council of Ministers has been scheduled (today) to discuss important matters of finalisation of dates for the Budget Session of the Delhi Legislative Assembly.'

'Since finalising the dates of the Budget Session and passing of the budget are important for the functioning of government, I along with officers concerned, will be attending the meeting,’ he said.

Prakash said that he hoped that in the cabinet meeting, proper decorum would be maintained and dignity of officers would be protected.

In another development, the Delhi Court has refused to grant bail to AAP legislator Prakash Jarwal who was arrested in connection with the alleged assault on Prakash.

Officials in the national capital, including those belonging to the Indian Administrative Service, Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service and DASS cadre, are communicating with the ministers only through written means since the alleged assault on the chief secretary.

A joint forum of Delhi government employees, in a meeting, passed a resolution, saying officers associated with the budget have attended the cabinet meeting in the interest of the people.

However, the forum has decided to continue only written communications with ministers and maintain five-minute silence at 1.30 pm, during lunch time, every day till Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia tender a written apology.

"Delhi government employees will continue to work through formal written means of communication and continue their protest in the form of a 5-minute silence at 1.30 pm during lunch time in all government offices till a specific written and public apology is tendered by the chief minister and the deputy chief minister," Pankaj Kumar, a member of the forum, said in a press meet.

"Steps are being taken to ensure the personal safety and dignity of officers while they discharge their official duties," he said.

Advisor to Delhi CM goes on week-long medical leave

Meanwhile, the advisor to the Delhi chief minister, V K Jain, who was questioned by the police in connection with the alleged assault on Prakash, has gone on a week-long medical leave, sources said on Tuesday.

Jain has not been coming to the Chief Minister's Office since the incident, the sources said.

The Delhi Police had last week told a court that during interrogation, Jain disclosed that AAP MLAs Jarwal and Khan surrounded the chief secretary and saw them assaulting him at Kejriwal's residence.

However, Jain had earlier said that he did not seen anything as he had gone to the washroom at the time of the incident.

Incident demoralising for bureaucracy: LG to CM

The alleged assault has sent shock waves among all sections of government employees across the country and had a demoralising effect on the entire bureaucracy, Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal told Kejriwal on Tuesday.

Baijal, in a letter to Kejriwal, said that during his meetings with various service associations, he felt that the government employees in Delhi were feeling physically insecure.

'The unfortunate incident of alleged misbehaviour and physical assault on the Chief Secretary (Anshu Prakash), who is the head of the bureaucracy, at the residence of the Chief Minister by the elected MLAs was unprecedented and has had a demoralising effect on the entire bureaucracy.

'This incident has sent shock waves through all sections of government employees in not only Delhi but also in the entire country,' Baijal said in the letter.

According to a statement issued by Raj Niwas, the L-G has met various service associations.

'From these meetings, the impression he received was that today, government employees in Delhi feel physically insecure, sadly in the very presence of those, who have been elected to uphold democracy and rule of law.

'He observed that there was a need to introspect how this deplorable state of affairs has developed,' the statement said.

The communication from the L-G came following the request by Sisodia asking Baijal to order bureaucrats to resume work asserting that if services matter were under the Delhi government's ambit, 'rule of law' would have been followed.

Noting that in his long career in government, Baijal said he does not recall there being so much of rift between the elected government and bureaucracy, despite Delhi having seen governments of different hues.

Baijal urged Kejriwal to reach out directly to the employees as greater responsibility lies on him as the alleged assault on Prakash was reported to have happened at his residence in his presence.