AFTER Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s allegation that 90% of the IAS officers “do not work” and “obstruct files” related to development work, former chief minister Sheila Dikshit among others have slammed the CM saying that Delhi has “efficient” bureaucrats. Taking to Twitter, three-term Delhi CM says:
“Kejriwalji, Delhi has some of the most efficient bureaucrats. They helped me tirelessly in achieving my goal of transforming Delhi”. Ms Dikshit was the chief minister of Delhi for 15 years, from 1998 to 2013.
Kejriwal’s IAS comment came at a function organised to felicitate the pensioners of the state’s power department. He said, 90% of IAS don’t work and they hold up files. He gave his comment in the backdrop of his proposal for the regularisation of contractual employees, as chairman of the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC). CM said, the officers were opposed to his idea arguing that if regularised the posts, they won't work. Kejriwal in turn said, if this logic is applied, then all the IAS officers' posts should be ad-hoc.
Before joining civil society movements and then politics, Kejriwal had served the Government of India as an Indian Revenue Service (Income-Tax) officer. His wife Sunita was also an IRS (I-T) officer and served 22 years before taking voluntary retirement. Her last posting was Commissioner of I-T in the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT).
It’s not the first time though that CM Kejriwal had problems with IAS officers. His open accusation of former Delhi acting chief secretary Shakuntala Gamlin of "favouring" power companies, became quite controversial two years ago. Earlier, Kejriwal infuriated his own former colleagues of IRS-IT when he aired messages in FM radios saying that he as I-T commissioner could have made crores of rupees and travelled in a car fitted with beacon light, but he had left the service and decided to serve the nation. The IRS Association issued a statement where it conveyed “its strong anguish" elaborating how the statement maligned "the image of the Income-Tax Department and its employees, blaming them for corruption in a generalized manner through media including various TV and FM Channels."
On the current on IAS officers, Ajay Maken, former minister in Delhi government and at the Union, took a swipe on Kejriwal. “90% IAS officers dont work: Kejriwal. As Delhi and Union Cabinet Minister, I worked with same officers- Delivered and Won 5 elections in a row!” Maken tweeted. Pawan Khera who was political secretary to Sheila Dikshit tweeted: “With the same bureaucracy @SheilaDikshit changed the face of Delhi. A poor craftsman blames his tools.”
Till the time of writing this article, the IAS Association has not issued any statement regarding Kejriwal’s comments.
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