Government move on law officers worries secretary

Top officials not happy with move, raise issue with high court

The city government’s principal secretary and additional secretary of the law department have reportedly raised the administration’s recent move to strip its senior judicial officers of powers to vet Cabinet notes and bills.

In what is being termed as direct attempt by the AAP government to gag its law department from giving free and fair opinion on contentious issues, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia recently took away powers of the city’s senior judicial officer to vet Cabinet notes and bills. Mr Sisodia has given this task to Danics officers instead.

A highly-placed source said that Mr Sisodia’s decision had not gone well with the top law officers, who in turn have raised the issue with the Delhi high court. According to convention, the Cabinet notes and bills are vetted in other states by only judicial officers.

However, in a signed order, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia recently took away the powers to vet Cabinet notes and bills from additional secretary and senior judicial officer Vikrant Vaid. The deputy chief minister had, instead, entrusted the job of vetting the Cabinet notes and bills to his secretary and Danics officer C. Arvind. The officer had also been tasked with the job of administration branch.

Mr Vaid, who till recently, had been responsible for vetting the Cabinet notes and bills, was tasked with the job of judicial branch and filing of appeals in city courts.

The deputy chief minister also empowered another Danics officer, Mr Ravi Dadhich, who is also secretary to transport minister Gopal Rai, with the job of handling litigation branch, with respect to giving his opinion and vetting notifications and other rules.

The AAP government’s move to take away the powers of vetting the Cabinet notes and bills from the city’s top judicial officer and give the same to the non-judicial officers of the Danics cadre had been interpreted in the bureaucratic and political circles as an attempt to gag the law officers from giving free and fair opinion on several contentious issues.

In the recent past, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had reportedly expressed his anger over the way the principal secretary for law had suggested that several key proposals and bills should be cleared only after getting prior appr-oval of the Centre. Despite the law secretary’s opinion, the AAP government had gone ahead and pass-ed key Cabinet decisions and tabled several bills in the Assembly without getting the Centre’s nod.

Among the issues where the law secretary had categorically differed with the government were the proposal for revising the circle rates, amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) 1973, Delhi Janlokpal Bill and bills related to the education sector.