Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia accused civil servants on Thursday of running a "transfer-posting industry" in the city, while he defended his government that has been trading fire with the lieutenant governor in a no-holds-barred turf war which has engulfed the Capital's political apparatus and bureaucracy.
Relations between L-G Najeeb Jung and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal have hit rock bottom over a series of contentious bureaucratic appointments, while several IAS officers have publicly protested against the way they are being treated by the AAP government.
Sisodia hit out at the city's civil servants and previous governments, alleging that taking money to assign lucrative posts to bureaucrats had become par for the course but his government put a stop to this.
"Whenever we got any request for transfer or posting we used to call the officers and ask them directly 'what is your competence, why should we send you there?' A number of officers had come to me in the past few months to get creamy posts," he said. "Transfer and posting of officials is a big industry...and this happens in any government."
A day after union home minister Rajnath Singh asked the Delhi government and Jung to meet and resolve all issues, Sisodia told HT several meetings were organised but they proved fruitless.
"We are hopeful that the President will do something about it," he said.
Jung on Wednesday wrote to Kejriwal that all the appointments made by the AAP government without his approval in the previous four days were not valid and said he was the sole authority in deciding transfer and posting of bureaucrats.
In his reply, Kejriwal asked the L-G to elaborate the provisions in the Constitution, the government of NCT of Delhi Act and Transaction of Business Rules that give him powers to issue such directives.
Sisodia said, "We have made the system (of transfer and posting) transparent by asking officers to submit a plan as to what they intend to do in any department especially VAT and excise. Tlettershere are some posts, which officers used to get by giving money. We have put an end to that."
