NEW DELHI: In a note to the L-G, Delhi health minister Saurabh Bhardwaj on Wednesday claimed that chief secretary (CS) Naresh Kumar had ‘cleverly hidden’ the most important facts mentioned in the U.O. note of December 24 about the alleged sexual harassment case at a Burari hospital.
“My U.O. note dated 24.12.2023 had a very specific direction that the chief secretary has to constitute a committee under the chairmanship of HOD, Health Dept (i.e. Secretary, Health) and provide an ATR about the constitution of this committee within six hours.
That committee was required to give a preliminary report in 24 hours and a final report in 7 days. It was also supposed to recommend action against the outsourcing agency if it was found guilty by this committee,” the health minister said.
However, neither the direction has still been complied with nor the committee has been constituted (without providing any reasons for noncompliance thereof by the chief secretary),” he added. Accusing the chief secretary of leaking a note to the media, Bharadwaj has sought his dismissal from the post.
“This is very surprising that the chief secretary Naresh Kumar’s office or he leaked the ATR to the media. I am also attaching the screenshot of my WhatsApp, in which a journalist sent me the ATR at 21:15 on 25.12.2023.
This is enough evidence that the chief secretary’s office or the chief secretary himself shared the official note with the media,” he said.
Bharadwaj stated that this raises doubts about the political neutrality of the officer. He added, “Clearly the CS is manipulating the facts to show that he submitted ATR in exactly 6 hours just to cover the compliance of the directions in the stipulated time. After my response to the media that no ATR has been shared by the CS, the CS came into action and he or his staff surprisingly leaked the ATR to the media."
“Chief secretary be directed to desist from attempts to intimidate my office staff. Disciplinary proceedings should be initiated against him and his staff for leaking the sensitive ATR (official notes) with the media,” the minister said.
“The directions of the health minister to form a committee and enquire were published in all newspapers on December 25, still CS claimed that he did not know about it till 2:15 pm,” Bharadwaj added.