Kejriwal must inform Centre before taking unilateral decisions: Ex chief secretary

Former Delhi chief secretary Shailaja Chandra on Tuesday accused Delhi's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of 'hiring' police officers from Bihar for the Anti-Corruption Bureau in the city, and urged the Aam Aadmi Party leader to justify his moves to the Centre before taking 'unilateral' decisions.

"It is extremely unfortunate, because the all-India services is governed by a structure, an Act, a cadre, and that needs to be administered by systems and rules. These posts are a part of the cadre strength of the Delhi Police, and if the Delhi Police is unable to give people then he must make a reference to the LG and the government of India that I need extra officers or I need different officers. He cannot overlook the right of the Delhi Police to work for the posts for which they have been recruited," Chandra told ANI.

"There is always an understanding of how a state or territory is run and by bringing them over here, it creates distrust and leads to a feeling that you want pliable people... their moral is down and they feel victimised. The whole idea is to divide and rule and I do hope that some sense will prevail Kejriwal tells the Centre the reasons and justifying his moves before he unilaterally brings people over here," she added.

Chandra further opined that Kejriwal's decisions were politically motivated.

"It is a game of politics, a method to test one authority's mettle against the other... It is only another means of politicising the issue... Why have a cadre, why have all-India services if you can do as you please?" she said.

Earlier, the Delhi government decided to 'hire' six police officers for the ACB, with reports stating that one Deputy Superintendent of Police and five inspectors and sub-inspectors will be joining the body soon.