L-G suspends Health minister’s OSD; ‘my office is completely empty’, says Bharadwaj

New Delhi: Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena on Wednesday suspended Health minister Saurabh Bharadwaj’s Officer on Special Duty (OSD) R N Das for his alleged “involvement in irregular and illegal registration of private nursing homes” including the one in Vivek Vihar where six newborns were killed in a fire, officials said.

Das said he does not have much information about his suspension and refused to comment further.

In the order issued on Wednesday, the Vigilance Directorate said, “The Hon’ble Lt. Governor, Delhi, in the exercise of the powers conferred by sub-rule (1) of Rule-10 of the CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965, hereby, places the said Dr. R.N. Das, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Hon’ble Minister (Health), GNCTD, under suspension with immediate effect.”

In a letter to Anti Corruption Branch(ACB) the directorate also said that Lt Governor, has directed the agency to undertake an “urgent comprehensive enquiry” into the registration of Nursing Homes under Delhi Nursing Home Registration Act, 1953 and Rules and submit an action taken report by June 5. “The immediate cause for placing the officer under suspension is on account of reported misconduct with regard to unauthorised and illegal running of Jyoti Nursing Home, Shahadra beyond the valid registration period when he was also Medical Superintendent of Nursing Home Cell,” an official said. “Here also Dr. R.N. Das had allowed the registration of the Nursing Home without bothering to ascertain the pending litigation status as well as the undertaking given by the Nursing Home w.r.t. various statutory compliances including fire safety,” an official said.

These incidents point towards the fact that Das, who was also OSD to the former health minister Satyendra Jain, has “clearly abused his powers, the official said.

In response, Health minister Saurabh Bharadwaj addressed a press conference at the Delhi Secretariat, expressing his concerns over what he described as a targeted campaign to hinder his ministry’s operations.

Bharadwaj accused the Lieutenant Governor of

systematically removing officials from his departments.

“Officials are being deliberately removed from my various departments with the intent to paralyse the ministry’s work,” Bharadwaj asserted. He further claimed, “The L-G is troubled by the fact that my office responds to his letters within an hour. He is very upset about how my office obtains all data and information so quickly.” Bharadwaj lamented the mass removal of advisors, fellows, and OSDs from his office over the past year. “If you had come to my office a year ago and see it now, you would find it completely empty, because all the advisors, fellows, or consultants who were appointed in my departments, who had studied at IIM, IIT, and abroad, have been removed by the Lieutenant Governor.”