LG declares AAP govt’s order on salary of two officers illegal

Lieutenant Governor (LG) Najeeb Jung on Friday declared illegal an order by the AAP government slashing the salary of two special secretaries in the Home Department, setting the stage for yet another confrontation between the two sides.

Delhi’s Home Minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday had issued an order saying special secretaries Yashpal Garg and Subhash Chandra will only be entitled to a subsistence allowance instead of their full salary as they were suspended by the Delhi government. 

Jain had suspended the two officials last month for refusing to sign in a file pertaining to hike in salary of public prosecutors despite the Cabinet clearing the proposal. However, the Union Home Ministry had revoked the suspension order.

In a letter to Chief Secretary K K Sharma, the LG directed him to ensure full compliance of the Home Ministry’s directive and declared that Jain’s order to pay the two officials only subsistence allowance has no legal sanctity. “The direction of the Ministry of Home Affairs make it abundantly clear that no adverse action can be initiated against these officers based on the suspension orders since these orders were without authority of law, void ab initio and non est (does not exist). Therefore, the order dated January 27 issued by the Minister of Home, Delhi government has no legal sanctity and cannot be implemented,” a source said quoting from the letter. 

Meanwhile, Garg has written a letter to Jain saying since Union Home Ministry had revoked the suspension order, there was no question of accepting any subsistence allowance. He even said Jain’s order in this regard is “infructuous”. In his order dated Januray 27, Jain had said “in exercise of the powers conferred upon me under FR 53(1)” hereby order that Garg and Chandra shall be entitled to a subsistence allowance and not full salary as they were under “suspension”.