New Delhi, Oct 13 (PTI) The AAP government today accusedDelhi Chief Secretary M M Kutty of refusing to comply withChief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's order to examine issuesrelated to the recent metro fare hike and alleged that he wasdoing so at the BJP's behest.
In a statement, the Kejriwal government said that Kutty's"denial" was the first of its kind in the democratic historyof the country and warned that it could exercise "options" todeal with "dereliction and sabotage".
"This makes it clear that the Chief Secretary has thebacking of the BJP-led Centre and is sabotaging the Delhigovernment's efforts to send relief to the people of Delhi bygetting the fare hike inquired," the government statementalleged.
Earlier in the day, Kutty was summoned by Kejriwal afterhe allegedly refused to comply with his order to examineissues related to the metro fare hike.
The government statement claimed that the behaviour ofKutty makes it obvious that he was taking "orders from theBJP" and is acting against the elected government of Delhiwhich is "unconstitutional and undemocratic".
The statement said that the elected government will lookinto the "options" to deal with such "dereliction andsabotage" of the bureaucrats towards the "pro-people move ofthe government".
According to the AAP government, it is now of the viewthat such bureaucrats must have "sabotaged" the electedgovernment's stand on the metro fare hike in the board meetingwhich decided on the hike.
The metro fare hike was a financial blow to the people ofDelhi and has also brought down the ridership of Delhi Metro,it said.
In the past, the AAP government and bureaucrats have beenat loggerheads on a range of issues.
In May 2015, Kejriwal had accused the then acting ChiefSecretary Shakuntala Gamlin of "favouring" power companies andclaimed that she wanted to "trick the government into signingdocuments which would give Rs 11,000 crore to these firms".
In this month too, the government had issued an order tolock the office of a senior IAS officer after he had issueddirectives notifying the appointment of the then powersecretary Gamlin as the acting chief secretary.
In December 2015, Delhi government bureaucrats had goneon mass leave to protest against the suspension of two Delhi,Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service (DANICS) cadreofficers. PTI SBR/BUN ASK AKKASK.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.