Delhi govt cancels appointment of 9 advisors to AAP ministers

The General Administration Department of the Delhi government on Tuesday said the appointment of nine advisors to its ministers, including of the two aiding Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, was cancelled on the directions of the Union home ministry.

In a letter to GAD on April 10, the MHA said no approval of the central government was taken for creation of the posts to which the nine advisors were appointed on a co-terminus basis.

According to a GAD order issued on Tuesday, the MHA said these were not on the list of approved posts.

Asked about the move, Deputy Secretary, GAD, Promila Mitra, who signed the order, said she was not authorised to speak on the matter.

Sources said the MHA directions came after the services department wrote to it seeking to know the legal status of the appointment of the nine advisors.

“No prior approval of the central government has been taken for creation of the posts on which these persons have been appointed on a co-terminus basis,” the order read.

The nine advisors are Amardeep Tiwari (media advisor to law minister), Arunodya Prakash (media advisor to deputy chief minister), Raghav Chadha (advisor to finance minister), Atishi Marlena (media advisor to deputy chief minister).

Prashant Saxena (consultant in the office of power minister), Ram Kumar Jha (logistics in office of GAD minister), Brig Dinkar Adeeb (OSD to power minister), Sameer Malhotra (consultant in office of power minister and Rajat Tiwari (Aide-de-camp, office of power minister).

The MHA’s notification dated May 21, 2015 clarified that “services” is a subject reserved for the central government as per the Constitution, the order read.

“Therefore, creation of services by Delhi Cabinet for accommodating these appointees is void ab-initio, being done by an agency not competent under the law to do so.

“Since creation of these posts and subsequent appointments on these posts are not valid, all previous orders regarding creation of these posts and appointments made against them are cancelled,” the GAD order read.

Reacting to the development, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia tweeted, “Modi Govt’s order to remove Delhi govt advisors is a conspiracy to derail revolution in Delhi.”