Anil Anand
There can be no two opinions that in a democracy people’s elected representatives are supreme and that the officialdom or the bureaucracy has to be in subordination. This question has arisen after regular run in which the Aam Aadmi Party Government in Delhi is having the bureaucracy and the high point was the allegation that chief secretary Anshu Prakash was manhandled and nearly thrashed when called for a mid-night meeting at the official residence of the mercurial Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The ongoing elected AAP Government versus bureaucracy clash with the Centre’s representative Lt Governor being seen by former as a colluder, had another flash point when Kejriwal joined by his three top Ministers staged a dharna at the residence of Lt Governor Anil Baijal. The sit-in followed by indefinite hunger strike by deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and Health Minister Satinder Jain was to seek LG’s intervention in what they called as the “Centre sponsored strike” by Delhi bureaucrats resulting in work coming to a standstill and the files piling up.
In the midst of this drama the IAS Officers Association in an unprecedented move held a press conference to rubbish allegations that they are on strike with admission that yes the officers have not been attending routine meetings or taking verbal instructions from the Ministers. The question arose if they were entitled to self-imposed work to rule in dealing with the elected Government?
It is not that the agitated officers do not have a case against the roughshod attitude of Kejriwal and his Minister towards the former. There are scores of incidents wherein not only Kejriwal and his Ministers but also the AAP volunteers have been abusive and ill treated the officers and officials at all levels. Ostensibly, such attitude has become part of the AAP’s narrative and justified in the name of raising the “aam aadmi’s” voice in a revolutionary manner.
Nonetheless, there certainly is a strong case to question the propriety of the officers’ decision in overruling the Government and people’s elected representative and deciding to go on a partial strike or work-to-rule. This has resulted in a complex situation developing in Delhi with work piling up and decision making coming to a standstill. Ultimately, the people are suffering for want of redressal of their grievances.
The Centre, the AAP Government and the bureaucrats all have contributed to the situation coming to this pass. Notwithstanding the fact that the IAS officers are entitled to have a safe working environment and be treated with dignity, the unprecedented situation, which was preventable, has put more onus on them than the other two parties in this conflict. Since the matter relating to alleged assault on Anshu Prakash is sub judice, there is no option but to wait for the court verdict but the bureaucrats cannot simply take refuge under this incident and stop working or work to rule.
Many former senior bureaucrats have not backed Delhi officers’ attitude with a rider that a court verdict going in favour of Prakash would drastically alter the situation. But pending that decision the bureaucrats by refusing to attend meetings convened by Ministers or other such related activities have been acting in an unwanted manner.
Can we allow the bureaucracy to overrule the elected members’ decisions and not cooperate with them? This is an important question which warrants an answer more from the Centre and the bureaucrats than any one else.
There is no case to absolve either Kejriwal or his Ministers but there is a strong case that the bureaucrats as guided by their service rules should have desisted from precipitating the crisis. It is also a fact that in Delhi’s dual power structure with Lt Governor on one end representing the Centre and elected chief minister on the other has the officialdom sandwiched in between.
The argument being further is that if the erstwhile BJP and Congress Governments could have smoothly functioned under the current Constitutional scheme of things that have not given Delhi the status of full statehood so why cannot the AAP dispensation. It is a fair question but not wholly correct. The AAP as a political party has genes different from that of the BJP and Congress and its leaders mostly activists and NGOwallahs have a different perception and style of functioning. So it is imperative that the BJP-led Government at the Centre and Lt Governor should have dealt with them differently while showing them the mirror.
The bureaucrats had no business in not cooperating with the Ministers in formulation of replies to the questions being asked by MLAs in Delhi Assembly. The stock reply of Ministers in recently held Assembly Session to such question was “the officers of the department concerned have refused to respond to the particular question.”
The officers in turn dismissed such allegations stating that it has become a modus operandi to attack the officers.
The problem, which has since been sorted out for the time being, began with the bureaucrats refusing to cooperate with the Government before the 2018 Budget Session. They set a condition that the Chief Minister should first apologise to chief secretary Prakash and assure the safety and security of the officers, before they got going. It led to a stalemate.
The bureaucrats were duty bound to cooperate in Budget formulation and also contribute in Assembly functioning. This is an area where they have exceeded their brief.
The deadlock has since been broken though the tension prevails among Lt Governor, AAP dispensation and the bureaucrats. The question whether the bureaucrats should have behaved in the manner of a trade union is looking for answers. The caveat before any such action in future is that in democracy will of the people prevails and that elected Government is supreme subject to the Constitutional and legal exigencies.
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